Eagles dealing McNabb to Redskins speaks volumes about QB
April 4, 2010
By Clark Judge
The shock isn't that Philadelphia traded Donovan McNabb, its quarterback the past 11 seasons and the face of the franchise for the past decade. Nope, the shock was where Philadelphia sent him.
That would be the Washington Redskins, a club within the Eagles' division and a club that plays Philadelphia twice a year.
Talk about a gamble. You don't send players of McNabb's magnitude to places where they can hurt you ... unless, of course, you don't think they can hurt you. And I have to believe that's what's going on here.
Look, McNabb is a perfect fit for Mike Shanahan's offense in Washington, is coming off a season where he led the Eagles to another playoff appearance and was a favorite of coach Andy Reid. So why would the Eagles give him to a competitor, especially when they know he'll make at least one appearance a year in Philadelphia, where loyalties to McNabb run deep?
"They must know something," answered one NFC personnel director.
I'll second that. The Eagles could have sent him anywhere, but they chose Washington -- and they chose to make a deal nearly three weeks before the draft, which is a little surprising considering they might have gained more had they waited.
But they didn't wait, and they didn't hesitate to send him within the NFC East.
"It's a risk," said the personnel director. "He gets to play the Eagles twice a year, and if he beats them [fans] will run Andy [Reid] out of town."
[img_r]http://images.cbssports.com/u/photos/football/nfl/img13158366.jpg[/img_r]Of course, that never intimidated Reid or the Eagles before. In 2002, they cut their leading tackler, Jeremiah Trotter, after he became entangled in a contract squabble with the team. Trotter signed with the Redskins, and Philadelphia never blinked. So what happened? The Eagles beat Washington all four times in Trotter's two years there.
They cut their top wide receiver, Terrell Owens, in 2006 after he, too, became embroiled in a contract controversy and wound up getting suspended in 2005. Owens signed on with Dallas, another of the Eagles' rivals in the NFC East, and, once again, it didn't impair the Eagles. They were 4-2 against the Cowboys in Owens' three years there, reached the playoffs as many times (2) as Dallas and went 3-2 in the postseason -- reaching the conference championship game in 2008.
Dallas did not win a playoff game with Owens.
Anyway, the point is this: If Philadelphia thought McNabb had something special left, it probably wouldn't have given him up ... and it definitely wouldn't have given him up to a division rival. McNabb has been a terrific quarterback for the Eagles, steering them to five conference championship games in eight years, but injuries and age have combined to reduce his effectiveness -- and if you don't believe me rewind the videotape to the Eagles' last two losses to Dallas in 2009.
One head coach last week told me he thought one reason the Eagles were so willing to part with McNabb is that Reid wanted to move in a different direction and try a true West Coast offense, with the more accurate Kevin Kolb a better fit.
And maybe he's right. But Kolb is inexperienced, unless you consider two starts last season an experience. He threw for more than 300 yards in both games, and was 1-1. Then he sat down. The Eagles were 10-4 with McNabb and reached the playoffs for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons.
So Kolb is a relative unknown ... except to the Eagles coaching staff, which made him its first pick of the 2007 draft and watched him practice the past three seasons.
As our personnel director said: The Eagles must know something.
At some point they had to move on without McNabb, and they figured now was the best time. McNabb turns 34 in November. He enters the last year of his contract. The Eagles were not going to extend his deal. And they had Kolb waiting in the wings and a proven veteran, Michael Vick, behind him.
Granted, nobody knows what Vick has to offer anymore, but the Eagles certainly know what they had in McNabb. That they were willing to trade him now tells you they believe they've gone as far as they can with him. That they were willing to trade him to Washington tells you they believe he cannot and will not put the Redskins over the top.
More than that, though, it tells you the Eagles aren't afraid of facing McNabb twice a year, and only Reid and his coaching staff know why. All I know is they didn't hesitate to send him there, which defies all reason ... unless they don't fear the prospect of facing him.
And they must not.