Is Chip Kelly a Racist? Re-Visiting LeSean McCoy's Comments as he Returns

In case you didn't circle it on your calendar, it's LeSean McCoy week in Philadelphia. He's coming back to Philadelphia with his Bills, in a game that now matters to both teams. The 6-6 Bills are one game out of the AFC Wild Card. The 5-7 Eagles are at most one game out of the NFC East. Pass the popcorn- you knew this would be a big week.

Chip Kelly traded LeSean McCoy to "go in a different direction." People have speculated whether he meant "a north-south runner," which seems unlikely given his use of DeMarco Murray, or a different type of personality, which would seem to be more likely, given the fireworks that came after McCoy was cut. Kelly won't go back into it, so we won't know, but we do know there is some bad blood now. McCoy went after Chip Kelly in the press afterwards, even going so far as to call him a racist. He also didn't take his call, seeking to clear the air.

So is Kelly a racist? Was McCoy out of line. Let me start by stating the obvious- I don't know. I've never met Chip Kelly a day in my life. McCoy did, and he says he's a racist. McCoy also just got traded away from the only team he ever knew. Other players ran to Kelly's defense. They also are not objective though, given that he's their boss. Let's establish a few things though-

• Leave out whether you think Kelly is a good or bad GM and coach. I think he's obviously not that great, but that has nothing to do with McCoy's comments.
• Leave out whether or not you like LeSean McCoy, whether you are mad at him for having a party in the off-season (get over it, no harm in that), his "baby mama drama" on Twitter (none of our business), or any other incident involving him. He's never been accused of being bad in the locker room, breaking the law, or doing anything else objectively wrong, nor would that have any baring on what he's saying here anyway.
• Yes, Chip Kelly employs other African-American men on his team, and no that doesn't prove anything. That's the "I have black friends" of pro-sports. It's in his interests to sign the best players, regardless of race, and to win games. That he does so proves nothing about his day-to-day demeanor, or whether or not he's racist.
• Chip Kelly has never said or done anything in the public space that is racist. All we have to go on is the word of others, none of whom are objective at all. 
• Chip, at best, mishandled both the McCoy and Jackson situations, on a personal level. Yes, he called McCoy, after he had traded him, "anonymous" sources talked about his flaws as a back, and McCoy had called him a racist. The Jackson story was even uglier, with accusations "anonymously" flying about Jackson being in street gangs and being involved in murders. This is not how well-run organizations cut ties with players.

Given all of those facts, it's not obvious or clear to me either way. Some people dismiss McCoy's accusations out of hand. There are plenty of reasons for that- dismissal of McCoy and Jackson themselves, fan allegiances, and a desire to not see Kelly labeled with one of the worst terms in our society. I don't dismiss the accusations out of hand, because I have no clear way to. I also don't know Kelly at all to say he's a racist (though being accused by Stephen A. Smith probably helps him, because it's Stephen).

Given that I don't know either way, I don't particularly care about this debate. As far as the circumstances that jettisoned McCoy from Philadelphia, I tend to side with him- it was a bad, stupid, disrespectful trade. Even so, it really doesn't matter a whole lot now. I view McCoy favorably, for his on the field heart and hustle that made him a great player in Philadelphia. Obviously he's going to get booed by a fan-base that will be back on the Kelly bandwagon after beating New England, which is fine I guess. In the end, the important part of Sunday will be who wins or loses the game.