Chip Kelly: I respect LeSean McCoy, but he's wrong

Chip Kelly says he respects LeSean McCoy but thinks the former Philadelphia Eagles running back, whom Kelly traded to the Buffalo Bills this offseason, is off base in his comments about how Kelly treats black players.

"You see how fast he got rid of all the good players," McCoy said earlier this month. "Especially all the good black players. He got rid of them the fastest. That's the truth. There's a reason. ... It's hard to explain with him. But there's a reason he got rid of all the black players - the good ones - like that."

Kelly dismissed McCoy's comments at OTAs Thursday.

"I've got great respect for LeSean," Kelly said, according to Kevin Patra of NFL.com. "However, in that situation, I think he’s wrong. We put a lot of time into looking at the characters and factors that go into the selection and retention of players and color's never been one of them."

Kelly said he's tried to phone McCoy but has yet to speak to him about the matter.

Kelly added he isn't bothered by what McCoy said, saying he is comfortable with who he is.

"You start chasing perception, then you got a long life ahead of you, son," Kelly said.

Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins backed up his coach on Thursday.

"Chip has been very, very transparent on what he’s evaluating us on," Jenkins told John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com. "That’s not only what we do on the field, but what we do in our assessments and how disciplined we are with our nutrition and all the sports science stuff. I haven’t seen him make a move outside of those parameters. I don’t think anybody in the locker room now thinks we have an issue with race. I don’t see that being a problem in the future. I don’t think there’s any need for Chip to address it (with the locker room)."