Riley Cooper: Philadelphia Eagles Choose Winning Over Doing the Right Thing

 

By Michael Moraitis--Featured Columnist

Even after video emerged of Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper using the N-word, the team remains behind him for the most part but for all the wrong reasons.

The video of Cooper using the word at a Kenny Chesney concert in June can be seen here, although it's tough to watch to say the least because of the horrid nature of Cooper's speech.

As a result of Cooper's use of the N-word, the Eagles are getting a ton of backlash for the simple fact that they kept him on the team while he undergoes sensitivity training. The Eagles could have made it much easier on themselves had they just cut ties, but refusing to do so has put them smack dab in the middle of this mess.

Quite honestly, the Eagles have nobody to blame but themselves for the incredible amount of scrutiny they are receiving for how this situation has been handled. Common sense would tell any team to let Cooper go, but the Eagles chose winning instead and further proved common sense isn't so common.

It's hard to imagine that had fellow Philly receiver Jeremy Maclin not gotten injured for the entire 2013-14 season, Cooper might be out of a job by now and possibly out of the league had no other team had the fortitude to pick him up.

However, that didn't happen and with the team in need of a receiver who is already somewhat familiar with head coach Chip Kelly's confusing offensive system, the Eagles must have thought it would be too difficult for a newly-signed player to get on board with Kelly's system in such a short amount of time.

Regardless of the reasoning for keeping Cooper, the Eagles messed up big time and now they have to deal with the consequences that comes from angry fans, activists and even the players on the roster itself.

This move alone will make things far more difficult for Kelly and the Eagles this season as the potential is there for the team's locker room to be heavily divided and distracted by the issue. And it certainly isn't going away since Cooper will likely return at some point to take the field for Philly again.

It may be more than the Eagles ever bargained for with Cooper, but it isn't Cooper who is to blame for this media relations disaster the organization is dealing with, it's the organization itself.