March 17, 2021   2 MIN READ

“I Hated Every Minute Of It:” Free Agency Flashbacks On “Q&A With Quintin Mikell, Jason Avant”

by and

Quintin Mikell signed his first free-agent deal coming out of the lockout. He didn’t even have time to visit the Rams before he signed with them.

“After seeing how things went with Dawk and how things shook out, the way he was allowed to walk …it kind of soured me on the entire process in general,” Mikell said. “I remember I had a meeting with Coach Reid. I was very distracted. I felt I wasn’t giving the team everything I should be giving.

“I said, ‘Coach, I just want you to know the whole contract thing has been a distraction to me, but I’m tired of thinking about it. I just want you to know I’m putting it behind me.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Listen, I can respect that. I know you’re gonna get paid, but I don’t know if it’s gonna be here.’ To me as a player that’s all I needed to hear. He’s being honest with me. That took everything off my chest and allowed me to play free.”

Jason Avant knew his days with the Eagles were coming to an end the day Chip Kelly was hired to replace Andy Reid. Kelly tried to covert the veteran receiver into a slot cornerback the way Patriots coach Bill Belichick did with Troy Brown.

“Chip idolized Bill Belichick,” Avant said. “He idolized everything the Patriots did, so he tried to adopt the Patriot Way … I remember going over to nickel back and I was getting routed up. I covered a few people in 1-on-1s and I was hyped. I got in regular drills, boy, I gave up about three touchdowns on five plays. I knew when Chip Kelly was head coach … I actually called Jeremy Maclin to say, ‘It’s been good.’

“That was part of my experience. But I hated every moment of it. Let’s let it be known: I hated every minute under Chip Kelly. I thought it was a gadget system. I thought it was borderline disrespectful and it was humiliating.”

Watch the show or listen here on the “Inside The Birds” podcast platform:

About The Author

Comments are closed here.