After Chip Kelly traded Brandon Boykin away from the Eagles, Boykin suggested racial motivations were behind the move. Kelly was shocked by that accusation, but for the most part the story has disappeared after Boykin softened his tone in later comments.
There is still a dispute between Kelly and Boykin, however: Kelly made their final meeting sound a lot warmer and friendlier than Boykin thinks it was.
Kelly claims that when the two went their separate ways for the last time, “he shook my hand and gave me a hug.” Boykin says that simply isn’t the case.
“He thanked me for everything I’d done for the team and we shook hands — a masculine, business-like handshake. We did not hug,” Boykin writes at The Players’ Tribune.
That memory difference aside, however, Boykin says that his comments about Kelly were misconstrued.
“You may have heard about the comments I made on my way out of Philly — comments that got taken a bit out of context,” Boykin writes. “I have no ill will towards Chip, and definitely none towards the Eagles. Chip’s job is to build the best football team he can build — a team with players that fit his system and his vision to be competitive on the field — and I wasn’t a part of that vision. There’s not much more to it than that. That’s the NFL.”
Boykin says he thinks he has a good fit in Pittsburgh, although so far it doesn’t look like he’s any better a fit for the Steelers’ defense than he was for the Eagles’ defense: In Thursday’s opener, Boykin didn’t play any defensive snaps.
