To the surprise of almost no one, the Eagles pulled the trigger Sunday on the long-anticipated trade of quarterback Donovan McNabb.
You knew the Eagles wouldn’t let the Phillies open their season Monday without a major announcement, right?
The shocker was dealing McNabb to the NFC East rival Washington Redskins, not the Oakland Raiders or the Buffalo Bills, the teams he apparently vetoed according to sources and reports.
When all was said and done, Eagles got the Skins second round pick this year, No. 37 overall, and either a third or fourth-rounder in 2011.
Kevin Kolb is the starting quarterback, according to Eagles head coach Andy Reid. Michael Vick is the backup – for now, at least.
In Washington, where the Phillies begin defense of their National League pennant, McNabb will take orders from newly hired head coach Mike Shanahan. Throughout his career McNabb has been compared to John Elway, the Hall of Fame quarterback who at age 38 won the first of back-to-back Super Bowls with Shanahan and the Denver Broncos. That makes the deal all the more puzzling.
“I’m going to sit here and tell you that he’s going to help the Redskins be a better football team,” Reid said. “And then time will tell on the rest. We’ll just see how things go as time goes on.
“I’m pretty confident that this is the right thing to do.”
Details weren’t immediately available but privately the Eagles have a reasonable chance of getting a third-rounder in 2011, indicating the deal is reliant on McNabb signing a contract extension with the free-spending Redskins. McNabb has one year left on his contract.
Reid called the trade a collective decision by himself, owner Jeffrey Lurie, president Joe Banner and general manager Howie Roseman.
Reid denied McNabb handpicked his team but conceded the 33-year-old veteran was “happy” about the destination. Without naming teams Reid also intimated the Birds turned down better offers for McNabb.
“You’ve seen things like this throughout the league,” Reid said on a conference call. “You’ve seen other quarterbacks who have moved on to one team where the compensation wasn’t as good and they ended up where they wanted to be. You’ve seen Drew Bledsoe leave the Patriots and wind up with the Buffalo Bills. I just felt that this was best for us and best for Donovan. And that’s really what it came down to.
“I do know that Donovan is happy about this. I just know that he was fine with going to the Redskins and he’ll do a fine job with them.”
Lurie, Banner and Roseman addressed the McNabb trade in statements.
“Donovan McNabb was more than a franchise quarterback for this team,” Lurie said. “He truly embodied all of the attributes of a great quarterback and of a great person. He has been an excellent representative of this organization and the entire NFL both on and off the field. I look forward to honoring him as of the greatest Eagles of all-time and hopefully see in enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton one day. I wish Donovan and his beautiful family great health and joy for many, many years to come.”
Banner described McNabb as “the ultimate professional.
“He has an incredible work ethic and has been an integral part of our success,” Banner said. “Over the years, Donovan has always carried himself with a great deal of dignity. He’s an excellent role model for young men and women from across the region. In my mind, he’ll always be remembered as one of the greatest Eagles of all time.”
The move paves the way for the Eagles to extend the contract of quarterback Kolb, also in his last year. That might have to wait a bit while the NFL and the NFL Players Association sorts out its labor dispute.
The Redskins starter is Jason Campbell, who last season threw for 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions leading the Redskins to a 4-12 record. Campbell could be on his way out, as the Skins are scheduled to meet this week with draftable quarterback Casey Clausen.
McNabb has been the Eagles’ starting quarterback the past 11 seasons. He threw 22 TD passes and was intercepted 10 times in his last season with the Birds.
In his career McNabb has completed 59 percent of his passes for 32,873 yards, 216 TD’s, 100 interceptions and an 86.5 passer rating.
The Eagles have five of the first 87 picks in the April 22-24 draft, and 11 overall.
“The fifth pick in the second round, that’s not a bad pick,” Reid said of the second-rounder from the Redskins. “Particularly the way the draft is setup now where you can kind of take a breath after the first day and evaluate who’s left.”
All of that said, it was fairly obvious Reid’s bond with his first-ever draft pick – the second overall choice in the 1999 draft – impacted the trade. It almost was as if Reid didn’t want McNabb to get too far away. Except for the fourth-and-26 completion that defeated the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs, Reid had too many McNabb memories to list.
“Every year was a great year, that’s what I know,” Reid said. “And every day was a great day. He was a heck of a kid – and he still is. He’s not going to change. Great person. Always fun to be around and he made everyone around him better.”
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