Podcast: Will Recent Departures Impact Eagles' Culture?
By Ray Boyd
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Eagles have recently parted with a number of household names. LeSean McCoy, Todd Herremans, Cary Williams and Trent Cole have now all played their final games in midnight green.
In light of these departures, many experts are discussing the X's and O's for Chip Kelly's team. The conversation is also being dominated by talk that the Eagles will now be major players in free agency and might even take a chance at getting Marcus Mariota in the draft.
Another angle that needs to be examined deals with the players that still represent the Eagles. How are all of these drastic changes sitting with the players that still call Kelly their coach?
Could all this drastic change hurt the locker room culture? The Sports Beyond Measure podcast crew discussed that notion on Thursday.
LISTEN: 94 WIP's Vince Quinn, Ray Boyd and Eric "Turtle" Golden discuss the Eagles' locker room following recent roster moves:
"You've now lost a lot of veteran leadership," Quinn said regarding the Eagles. "Some of these guys have been considered culture guys."
Players like Herremans and Cole were never viewed as "problem," players in the locker room. The releasing of those type of players leave a void in leadership and may send a message to other players about where they stand with the organization.
A number of players took to Twitter following the shocking news of the McCoy trade.
Herremans decided to keep his opinion on the McCoy trade to himself. Sort of...
Should we be concerned about the make up of the locker room when we see tweets like this from the players considering that a number of leaders are now gone?
"If these players can't hold it together as they make millions upon millions of dollar some of them, well then I don't want them on my team anyway," Golden explained. He added that with or without the previous crop of leaders in place, the players that remain will have to step up, fill voids and continue to produce.
Quinn still argued that the drastic changes may actually send the wrong message to the rest of the locker room.
"You want people to feel like the work that they do, buying into that culture, if they perform, then they will be rewarded by being able to stay," Quinn explained.
Kelly now has all the power. He can coach the team how he wants and build it how he wants. It will also be his responsibility to maintain a cohesive locker room as all of these changes take place.
The Sports Beyond Measure Podcast is a weekly sports podcast that delivers a fun perspective on the latest headlines in national sports, Philadelphia professional sports and community-based sports. The series is hosted by 94 WIP's Vince Quinn, Ray Boyd and Eric "Turtle" Golden. You can download/subscribe for free on iTunes.
