By Michael McCarthy
In the aftermath of the blockbuster Eagles trade of primo running back Shady McCoy to Buffalo, lots of Birds’ fans are in the dark about linebacker Kiko Alonzo, whom they received in return.
Thanks to NJ.com’s Mark Eckel, we have some unvarnished opinions from four NFL scouts who requested anonymity so they could speak about a player on another team:
“He’s good,” one NFC executive said. “He’s a very solid inside linebacker. He’s good in the middle (of a 4-3). He’ll be good inside in their 3-4. He played well in ’13. Then he got hurt last year, so …”
An AFC scout liked him even more, but was concerned about the knee injury.
“I’m not a doctor, but I’m guessing the Eagles did their homework there,” he said. “Before he got hurt, I loved him. He was a machine his rookie year. I mean it looked like the guy made every tackle. Go watch Buffalo games from that year, I’m telling you, he made every tackle. He was everywhere.”
Another NFC scout agreed about Alonso’s 2013 season.
“I couldn’t believe how good he was,” he said. “I kind of liked him in that draft. I had him pegged as a second-rounder (he went No. 46 overall to the Bills). But man, he played great. To be honest, I like him in the middle of a 4-3, but he’ll do fine inside in a 3-4.”
Of course, consensus is always rare in the NFL. Here’s a different opinion from someone in the NFC.
“He’s damaged goods,” the scout said. “Why do you think (Buffalo) traded him? Yeah, he was good (in 2013), but he didn’t play a down last year. I like the Bills’ end of this deal.”
