Mychal Kendricks revealed to reporters on Friday that he requested to be traded in the offseason. The Eagles had an option to release the sixth-year linebacker with no additional money owed, per Kendricks, but the team decided to keep him.

"It's cut and dry. That's the business. It's just like that. You tell them what you want. They either do it or they don't and you are in the contract that you signed. That's it," Kendricks said.

The starter on the weak side, Kendricks played a career-low 27 percent of the snaps in 2016 because of the prevalence of the nickel subpackage which takes him off the field. He was utilized more on special teams and registered nine tackles in the third phase, good for third on the squad.

Kendricks signed a four-year extension in 2015 which runs through the 2019 season. He was coming off a year in which he had 108 tackles and four sacks. In 2013, Kendricks became just the third Eagles linebacker since 1982 with at least four sacks and three interceptions in a season joining William Thomas and Seth Joyner.

A second-round pick in 2012, Kendricks was playing for a different coach and in a different scheme when he signed the extension. He doesn't know if a new defense would bring out the best in him. At this point, his focus is on being the best teammate he can be.

"Those are all unknowns. I'm going to stay neutral on those types of questions because I am on this team and I work next to these guys and have a duty on this team and I respect these guys and the guys in the room that I work with every day," Kendricks said. "Would I be better? Of course we can sit here and say, 'Oh, I would be better here or there,' but that doesn't even matter because that's not the situation."