PHILADELPHIA -- During the NFL draft, the Philadelphia Eagles traded running back Bryce Brown to the Buffalo Bills.
In return for Brown, the Eagles will receive a conditional 2015 fourth-round pick that can become a 2016 third-round pick, sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter. The Bills and Eagles also swapped 2014 seventh-round selections as part of the deal.
The 22-year-old Brown rushed for 878 yards and six touchdowns over two seasons with the Eagles. He had problems with ball security in his rookie season, losing three of his four fumbles, but rebounded with no fumbles in his second season.
While the Eagles were stockpiling their roster with seven draft picks, coach Chip Kelly took some time to discuss the decision to trade Brown.
“Yeah, I talked to Bryce a little while ago,” Kelly said. “I'm really happy for him. It's an opportunity to go somewhere. They had been on him for a while. We probably fielded a lot of offers from them in terms of what they wanted, because we knew what they wanted and how much they wanted Bryce. It's just we kind of had a log jam so to speak at running back. You obviously have the best back in the league in LeSean (McCoy), and you add Darren Sproles who I think ... I don't even know the numbers what we gave up, but we'd be picking Darren Sproles right now basically. That was the trade we made, because we took them in the fifth. We traded a fifth to get him. Really excited about Chris Polk and how he's come along.
“Chris is an outstanding special teams player for us,” Kelly added. “But you go back to the Detroit game and the long run he hit for us in that game. I really think Chris is a 100 percent healthy, and is vying for time there. We really like (Matthew) Tucker. I think he's another guy as we continue to develop [who] was on the practice squad. Got him to the active. Came to camp. He's probably in the best shape of any of the backs right now and is really pushing for it. So we felt like if that can get us something as we go forward, we felt it was a positive move [to trade Brown].”