LeSean McCoy has a chance to win a second Super Bowl, but regrets he never won one with the Eagles

LeSean McCoy jokingly referred to himself as a rabbit’s foot Tuesday. While it’s not nearly as satisfying as being the rabbit, the 32-year-old former Eagles running back has reluctantly embraced his late-career role.

He won a Super Bowl last year with the Kansas City Chiefs even though he played just one snap in the postseason and was a healthy scratch in the Chiefs’ 31-20 win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.

And he has a chance to collect yet another Super Bowl ring Sunday when his current team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, faces the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.

McCoy, who is the Eagles’ all-time rushing leader, is the Bucs’ No. 3 running back behind Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette. He played just 116 snaps in the regular season, the fewest of his career. He had just 10 rushing attempts for 31 yards and 15 catches for 101 yards.

He played one snap in the Bucs’ NFC championship game victory over the Green Bay Packers and two snaps in their divisional win over the New Orleans Saints.

But while McCoy might not be getting on the field much, he’s more than just a lucky rabbit’s foot to the Bucs. He has become a valuable mentor to both the 23-year-old Jones and the 26-year-old Fournette, who combined for 1,345 rushing yards in the regular season and 289 more in the Bucs’ three postseason wins.

“The thing about these younger guys, they remember watching Shady when he was their age,” said running backs coach Todd McNair, who played for Bucs head coach Bruce Arians at Temple in the 1980s. “They’ve seen him play all throughout his career. They’re not in awe of him, but they have a healthy level of respect for him. I lean on him to offer his experience to them.”

McCoy has helped Fournette, the former workhorse first-round pick who was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars last summer, adjust to a position-share role with Jones.

“He’s helped Leonard embrace the role he’s been thrust in here,” McNair said. “And Shady has helped with Ronald and his development and confidence.

“It can’t always come from a coach. When you have a roomful of young guys, they need somebody to look to. Another voice in their ear. And Shady’s been great with that.”

Chiefs running backs coach Deland McCullough had similar praise for McCoy and the way he handled himself in Kansas City in 2019 after Damien Williams replaced him as the Chiefs’ primary running back. Williams didn’t play this season, opting out because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“He handled it very professionally,” McCullough said of McCoy. “As a coach, you try to put people in the best position to be successful. Sometimes, it isn’t what they want or what they envisioned. But you still want and expect them to buy in and be professional.

“That was Shady. I love that guy. I was messaging with him a couple of weeks ago. He definitely had an influence on our room and our team last year. I’m glad he’s back in the championship game.”

After the Chiefs decided not to re-sign him, McCoy talked to several teams, including the Eagles, his first preference. But as July turned into August, the Eagles never got around to making him an offer, so he signed with the Bucs.

“The Bucs were putting the pieces together,” McCoy said. “They needed a veteran in the [running back] room. A guy they could count on. But they weren’t going to wait long.

“I figured it was the best move for me. Knowing Tom Brady and being really tight with Gronk [tight end Rob Gronkowski], it just made sense. I thought it was my best chance to get back to the Super Bowl.”

He was right about that.

“The Eagles have always been something special to me,” said McCoy, a Harrisburg native who spent the first six years of his career in Philadelphia before Chip Kelly traded him to Buffalo after the 2014 season for linebacker Kiko Alonso. “My roots are there. It’s kind of like my hometown. I still have a lot of friends there. Mr. [Jeffrey] Lurie and [general manager] Howie [Roseman] and all them guys are special to me.

“I was always open to going back there. I remember my last couple of years in Buffalo when I wasn’t sure whether we were rebuilding or not and I was trying to get traded back to Philadelphia. There was a lot of talk about it, but the Bills wouldn’t do it.

“When I retire, I definitely want to retire an Eagle. I’m the all-time rushing leader there. Twenty-five [McCoy’s jersey number with the Eagles] hasn’t touched the field since I left.”

McCoy said one of the biggest regrets of his career is that the Eagles didn’t win a Super Bowl title in the six seasons he was there. He had four 1,000-yard seasons with the Eagles, led the league in rushing in 2013 with 1,607 yards, and finished third in 2014 with 1,319 yards.

The Eagles had four 10-win seasons and made the playoffs three times while McCoy was there, but never won a postseason game before Kelly shuffled him off to Buffalo for a flaky linebacker with a bum knee.

“Winning last year was nice and winning this year would be great, too,” he said. “But I do wish that I could’ve won one when I was an Eagle. I mean, that’s where I started

“I feel like I sacrificed so much back then when I was rolling [playing well]. I didn’t get those championships like I wanted. But it’s paying off now. I did all of the hard work then, and am receiving the rewards now.

“When I have two rings on my finger, I’ll be able to look back at the things I did to get here. That’s how I play it out in my mind.”

There’s a good chance Super Bowl LV will be McCoy’s last game. But he wasn’t ready to say that Tuesday. What if another Super Bowl contender calls next summer and is looking for a veteran backup?

“I think about this all the time, and especially now, about the way my career has gone,” McCoy said. “From, like, being the guy and a franchise player to now being older and asked to do different things.

“But then you look at the winning. If I could help the young guys out and they can make a difference in a Super Bowl, things like that make it hard to make a decision to call it quits.

“I’m sure I could go to any team and be the second or third running back. Beat some guys out and be the third back and play a little longer. It’s a hard question. If I get a second championship, with everything I’ve accomplished, it might be over. You never know. I’ll revisit that later.”