NFL: Racism and Riley Cooper - Philadelphia's dilemma

Cary Williams got into a fight with his team-mate Riley Cooper

Philly.com’s Jeff McLane provided more convincing details after his initial story broke. McLane reported that “Williams used a racial slur during the incident, according to an Eagle that was near the altercation. According to the player, Williams said to Cooper more than once, “I’m not a n***a you [mess] with.”

While Cooper was quick to dismiss the fight as “nothing”, Cary Williams refused to speak to the cameras after the altercation. Read into that what you will.

Philly are now in a really tough situation. As far as the organisation is concerned, the matter has been dealt with and they want nothing more than to just move on.

But it was naïve of the front office to think that this could be dealt with and brushed under the carpet so quickly. Did they really expect that all of Cooper’s teammates, black or white, could look his way ever again and just forgive and forget?

Consider the report of ESPN.com’s Ashley Fox in the first days after Cooper re-joined the team following his time away:

“After every drill Riley Cooper ran in practice Thursday, he jogged to the sideline and stood by himself. He didn’t interact with teammates. He didn’t talk. He was a man among 89 others, yet he was alone. …

No one was playing with, much less for, Cooper in practice Thursday. It’s hard to envision that changing, which is why the Eagles are going to have to cut him.”

Fox got it wrong; Cooper wasn’t cut. But besides that, the report says it all. Riley Cooper was a player who isn’t respected by his team, by his fans or by the general public. And what’s worse, he isn’t even an invaluable player. He should have been cut before training camp was over, but now that he is on the final 53 man roster, the situation is a whole lot more complicated.

Chip Kelly took a big risk keeping Cooper past final cuts. The issue was always going to be whether the cracks created by this franchise-shaking episode become wider as the season progressed. If they’d released Cooper immediately, the Eagles could have avoided that risk. Now, the cracks have begun to show before they’ve ever played a snap in the regular season.

Now the Eagles have backed themselves into a corner. Once the video and details of this fight between Cooper and Williams emerged, Chip Kelly must’ve known that the media were never going to let this thing drop. Nor, for that matter, were the fans.

Back in August, the fans were quick and brutal in their assessment of Cooper. The negativity that hovered around their chastised receiver in the immediate aftermath of the incident was palpable. And it has reared its ugly head again after details of this fight emerged, with fans taking to social media to express their outrage that the wide receiver is still playing for their team.

So the big question now is how should Chip Kelly and general manager Howie Roseman respond?

What to do with Cooper was always going to be a football decision before anything else. He was never going to be cut because he was a racist. The only evaluation that Coach Kelly and Roseman have to make is whether Riley Cooper’s usefulness is outweighed by the risk of keeping him around.

Bottom line, is he worth the distraction? NFL teams draft and put up with players that may strain the locker room all the time. However, they do it for players who are worth the risk. Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Corey Dillon. They don’t do it when the player isn’t talented enough to warrant the risk.

Last week, Cooper survived final cuts because the Eagles are desperately short at receiver. With the season ending injury to talented receiver Jeremy Maclin, the Eagles know that he might need to be kept around.

Jason Avant, the #3 option, is primarily a slot specialist and has never caught more than three touchdowns in a single season in his career. DeSean Jackson is a true #1, but he is a small target. At 6 foot 3 and 220lbs, Riley Cooper is a real red-zone presence.

So there is a need for Cooper on the Eagles roster; that much is clear. If there wasn’t he would have been out of the door weeks ago. But now Coach Kelly and Roseman have to weigh it all up. Is retaining a decent red-zone wide receiver worth the disruption and unwanted media attention that comes with having him on the roster?

It seems like a delicate situation. If Cooper stays, the squad could easily be divided and distracted by rumours of unrest all year, and it could derail their entire season. But on the other hand if they cut him now, then Jason Avant becomes a starting wide receiver. Two days before the opening game.

Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.

NFL.com’s Akbar Gbajabiamila wrote in August that “to dwell on Cooper’s derogatory outburst will only create bitterness, and bitterness is not what the Eagles need. They need to embrace forgiveness — because without that, there will be no team.” Unfortunately, the Eagles themselves are making us all dwell on Cooper’s outburst now. With friendships lost, segregation in the camp and fights breaking out on the field, it doesn’t seem like forgiveness is all that forthcoming in the Eagles locker room right now.

Whatever Coach Kelly and his staff decide to do, they must do something. This is a team being split apart at the seams by their internal tension, and the management needs to stop being ignorant of that fact and do something about it.

Hopefully, this is the last we will hear on the matter. Nobody likes washing their dirty linen in public, and if Chip Kelly knows what’s good for him then he will get this team together behind closed doors and diffuse this ticking time bomb before it’s too late. The united front that will be shown for the cameras for the rest of the season can’t disappear when the cameras are turned off.

How he achieves that, though, is anyone’s guess at this point.

Cary Williams at his locker stall: “Don’t even come by here. I’m not talking at all.”

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) September 5, 2013