McNabb is 34. He can play for another three years. Probably longer if he wants to. Remember, his injury history isn’t just a curse - it’s also a blessing, since it’s kept him off the field and therefore he’s been hit less.
Clearly this is a stop-gap move, but it seems to me the only QB in the draft Shanahan was high on was Sam Bradford, who was just not going to be available or cost a hell of a lot more than what was paid for McNabb. So they’ll play D-Mac for a year or two, draft a QB next year or the year after, and use what picks they have to get younger everywhere else.
And if you think QB wasn’t a need, you’ve not been paying attention when Campbell or Grossman were playing. Grossman is an interception machine. Campbell is a deer in headlights. They both take sacks like they think there’s an award for it. Trust me, this was a need.
Campbell isn’t great, but he’s not as bad as the nay-sayers point out. He’s not as good as McNabb. He’s not even honorable mention in that category. But with a more solid line (say… through 2 high draft picks!), he could have limped through next year. I know, it’s a sin to think that the skins won’t be a playoff contender each and every year, but by giving the team a chance to draft and grow players, you’d a lot closer than you are right now.
An overlooked upside for the Redskins is that this trade also weakens a division opponent.
I’ll weigh in as an Eagles fan who is neither thrilled to see #5 go nor utterly heartbroken at the thought.
The bottom line is that if Kolb is as good as Reid thinks he is, this is a good deal. There may be a one-year transition, a la Aaron Rodgers, but the Eagles will have a very young, very good offensive core in place for the next 8 years (and have seven picks in the first four rounds of this year’s draft to renew the defense). I wouldn’t have minded giving Mac one more year, but the contracts made it impossible. If they hadn’t made this deal now, they would have been forced to do it next year, and might have lost Kolb.
Of course, if Kolb turns out to be mediocre or worse, it’s a bad trade. But Reid’s had three years to look at Kolb and make this decision, and at some point you have to let your head coach decide which chances he wants to take.
And while Philster goes too far in saying that a Kolb 4-12 beats a 10-6 McNabb, I would say a Kolb 8-8 with signs of promise beats a another 10-6, lose-in-the-playoffs season. And that’s the lower margin of what I’d expect.
As far as the Redskins; at first, I was upset at trading within the division; but on reflection I’m not so worried. The Skins have major problems, and I’m not persuaded that Shanahan and McNabb are going to make a 4-12 team into a contender overnight; especially given that 1) it’s not like Campbell was some godawful disaster last year and 2) they’re quite short on draft picks and overcommitted in salary to people like Haynesworth (Trading Campbell will bring a fourth at best). It’s going to take a year or two to overhaul that team, and by the time that’s done, Mac will be declining. In fact, I’d not be stunned to see the Skins draft a QB this year or next.
Given that the Skins’ offer was likely the best or close to it, and that that was where #5 wanted to go … maybe the McNabb Redskins bump the Kolb Eagles out of the playoffs once in the next 3-5 years; I can live with that.
But if that turns out to be the case, he’d be the first about whom that was true, wouldn’t you say?
This is all true; however I do think this a move that’s part of a long term plan. Like I said, they’ve improved the team at the QB position for the immediate future, they’ll draft linemen and fill other positions of need, and take a young QB in a year or two. Either way, Campbell has done as well as he’s going to do in this town, and unfortunately he’s just not the answer this team is looking for at that position. In the meantime, if they have an opportunity to improve themselves and weaken a division rival, why not?
I watched his every snap for the last 5 years. Trust me, it was a godawful disaster. Not that all that can be rightfully blamed on Campbell, however, his play sure didn’t help.
I thought he looked fantastic the first half of the season two years ago when they went 6-2. Didn’t he go something like 10 games without an INT?
He’s had his moments, sure.
…so did Tony Banks.
My point is, he’s not the long-term answer; more importantly, he’s not Shanahan’s guy. Mike wants to either groom his own hand-picked guy, or plug in a proven veteran.
This year, the Eagles will be worse, and the 'Skins will be no better, except maybe against the Eagles, paving the way for a Dallas Division Championship and home field Super Bowl!
There’s a leap in logic here I can’t… quite… identify…
Tell you what…I know some folks in New Orleans that can cut you a great deal on some paper bags suitable for headwear. We won’t be needing them anymore.
Have you enjoyed going 8-14 against him? :dubious:
Well, first of all, the Cowboys are 9-14 against Andy.
Second, the fact that he racked up 6 wins against the pathetic 5-11 teams of the early '00s isn’t all that impressive.
Thirdly, since finding a franchise QB, they are 5-3 against Andy’s Eagles.
Lastly, I never said he couldn’t put together a good team, just that as a game time coach he wasn’t so hot.
Hell, I keep forgetting that Jurgy had been an Eagle before he was a Redskin. Like the Eisenhower Administration, Sonny’s days as an Eagle are just enough before my time that I didn’t pick it up either in current events or in history. 
One thing’s for sure: McNabb’s career as a Redskin won’t ever overshadow his career as an Eagle the way Jurgy’s career as a Redskin dwarfed what he did with the Eagles.
They traded one pick this year, a second, and one pick next year, a 3rd or 4th, for McNabb. You’re talking like they gave away their entire draft. This team was in rebuilding mode under Campbell and they are still in rebuilding mode under McNabb. Nothing has changed except they are markedly better at QB now. Those 2 picks they gave up aren’t going to inhibit their team’s growth in any real way. If anything, adding a better veteran QB who can lead could help them develop faster by giving them an actual offense. Those young WRs might actually have a chance this way.
The crappy old RBs they signed do far more damage to the team’s rebuilding and the growth of young players than swapping McNabb for Campbell does.
For you McNabb lovers that think the Eagles will stink and the Redskins will be contending, I have two words for you: Kordell Stewart.
After 8 torturing seasons as the starting QB in Pittsburgh, where he also lost his share of AFC championship games at home (I think he lost 2 at home, one on the road, but I’ll check after this post), Stewart was let go and went to Chicago, where he signed a two year contract and promptly fell out of the starting role about midway through the first season. Soon after, he was out of football completely.
McNabb is the next Kordell Stewart. He will crash and burn in DC, and I for one, can’t wait for the meltdown. He is not a great quarterback. He’s a good one. And in the NFL, the difference is huge.
I can understand the tepid excitement in DC, as Jason Campbell was never going to get you there. However, if you think McNabb is a major upgrade, you are going to be very disappointed. Unless of course, you wanted the best QB in the league who throws 15 yard crossing routes over the middle into the ground, at the trailing foot, or behind the intended receiver. Trust me, you will get weary of this very soon.
The reason for the trade was simple. Ignore the bullshit about all three Philly QB’s having one year left on their contract, so they had to move someone. No they didn’t. Two things drove this trade.
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Money. McNabb was due a $6.2 MM roster bonus this season (somewhere around there, if I’m wrong, someone will correct me I’m sure), and there was no indication that he was the QB on their roster to get them to the promised land.
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Andy Reid - He just signed a 3 year extension with the Eagles. So, what that told me was that management was slightly more interested in keeping Reid around than keeping McNabb around. McNabb was Reid’s first draft pick when he came to the Eagles, and they were attached at the hip. He was given a few years to give Kevin Kolb a shot to succeed. Reid pushed for Kolb’s drafting, so he wasn’t given much of a choice. If Reid succeeds with Kolb, Reid stays. If Kolb turns out to be a bust, Reid goes.
From what I’ve seen of Kolb (and admittedly, it’s a small sample set), he is going to do just fine, and as long as he hits his receivers in stride, you will see the Eagle offense moving. Gone is the pouty, mouth breathing, fat-assed McNabb, who’s strange air-guitar, dancing, and sideline-giggling antics will NOT be missed.
Kolb seems to be liked by his teammates, and he is said to command the huddle. With less than 2 minutes to go in a game, I doubt anyone in the huddle will be wishing McNabb was in their with them. Unless you enjoy watching your QB choke when the game is on the line, the fans won’t miss him, either.
I hope we revisit this topic at the end of the season, so we can see how right I am on this particular subject. For any of you that think McNabb is something to worry about (or will come back to haunt the Eagles), the Eagles trading him within the division is a strong indication that they think he’s done. I think they are right.
If the Eagles can get lucky in the draft and scoop up a Tony Pike in a later round, they will set themselves up nicely for the next 5-10 years at QB. They need another veteran QB on the roster right now… Jeff Garcia anyone?
Good-bye, McNabb. And good riddance.
When you have 2 picks in the first 4 rounds of the draft and you give one of them up… it’s a sizable portion of the draft this year, yes. It’s even worse when you have the laundry list of needs the skins do and the new player doesn’t actually fix any of them because we still need to look for a new QB.
:dubious:
No, not at all. The Eagles wouldn’t have been so successful over the last decade if Reid et al. had not been right more often than not. Most of their players have been drafted and developed.