Now that I am over the initial shock of this deal, I think I can try to break this down and communicate my opinions in words, bearing in mind that I am still experiencing secondary shock that the Eagles quarterback I grew up with is now gone.
I am shocked. I am not sad. I am not angry. I will not miss McNabb.
On the outset of things, I said that a fair deal for the Eagles would be a 2nd rounder for McNabb. That's what they got and a 3rd or 4th rounder in 2011. For a 30+ year old quarterback past his prime, that's not bad at all. Value wise, it's actually a very good deal. The Eagles now have 11 draft picks, which include 4 of the first 82 and 5 of the first 87. Andy Reid likes draft picks and I will certainly take that, especially this year, because by most accounts, this is a deep draft in the top rounds.
Making this puzzling, it is being reported now by ESPN's Adam Schefter that the Raiders are a bit miffed because they wanted McNabb as well. Now the million dollar question is what price were they willing to pay? If the answer is Nnamdi Asomugha, I'll be a bit pissed because the Eagles need a corner. If not, then value wise, I don't see the Raiders giving us much more than the Redskins did.
Forget about the team that did not get him, now let's talk about the team the Eagles traded McNabb to: the Washington Redskins. Like the move or hate the move, one thing is for sure: trading one of the greatest QBs in Eagles history within your division takes a lot of balls. Lucky for the Eagles FO, they are cocky, arrogant, and have more balls than you can ever imagine. Sometimes it pans out, other times it doesn't, but the Eagles are cocky.
A lot of Eagles fans are angry. Outraged. Upset. And completely overreacting. We all remember Donovan McNabb right? You know, the injury prone quarterback who constantly overthrew wide open receivers, underthrew wide open receivers, and flat out missed wide open receivers. Just because he is wearing different colors, he has not turned into the next Joe Montana. Going back to being injury prone, the Redskins do not have a real good offensive lineman. If they were smart, they would pick an O-lineman with their #4 overall pick. Now if they are geniuses, they can identify a guy that they want and if they think he can fall, they can trade their #4 overall pick to Denver for Brandon Marshall and get their much needed O-lineman at #11 because let's face it, Devin Thomas and Santana Moss are not DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, although it can be said that Chris Cooley is as good as if not better than Brent Celek. As far as McNabb's other favorite pass option goes, the running back, well, the Redskins certainly have the best running backs that 2006 has to offer!
And now the little snafu that comes with trading a QB within your own division...the twice a year meetings that we all love. Donovan McNabb will (likely barring a typical McNabb injury) play a game at the Linc next year in a Redskins uniform. In other words, there will be a complete media circus for 2 games of the year and the whole world will get to witness McNabb play his former teams on national TV not once but twice. It will be like Favre vs. Rodgers, only the Eagles traded McNabb to Washington to "do him right" whereas Green Bay screwed Brett Favre over and he went to Minnesota for revenge.
As far as who got the better of this deal, well, time will certainly tell. Is McNabb an upgrade to Jason Campbell? Likely, he is. Does he the last piece of the puzzle? I say work on those WRs, Offensive linemen, and tweak the defense (especially the secondary) in the draft and then we will talk. However, I won't forget what Shanahan did to Elway in his first couple years at Denver. Is McNabb the new Elway? But here is the other question. What if McNabb regresses like most older QBs do? What if McNabb is not Elway? What if his overthrows, underthrows, and flatout misses are worse? Even if the Skins get Marshall, he still can't catch balls 6 feet in front of him. If that turns out to be the case, then this move could be genius. Draft pick wise, we got the right value. The Eagles now have 11 (11!) picks in the 2010 draft as mentioned above and you can certainly expect them to be wheeling and dealing on draft day as they still have needs on the defensive side of the football and offensive line, and frankly, I don't think you can plug all those needs with rookies and expect to go far, even if your offense is dynamite. But still, if McNabb falters, then we just screwed the Redskins beyond belief. All Kolb needs to do is continue to improve and lead an offense filled with dynamite weapons and we'll be good to go on that side of the ball. The Eagles don't need McNabb anymore. The defense is my biggest concern, and that what needs to be looked at through the draft and trading draft picks. I hope you guys like hearing the Eagles talked about on TV because you can expect a lot more wheeling and dealing in the next few weeks leading up to and culminating with the 2010 NFL Draft.
It goes without say now that barring injury or a complete bombshell that the Eagles 2010 starting QB will be Kevin Kolb and the back up will be Michael Vick. On this Easter Sunday, April 4, 2010, Kevin Kolb has risen!!!......up on the Eagles depth chart!
This move makes no sense from a (rational)Deadskin perspective. Jason Campbell was not the reason they went 4-12 last year, and I don't think an injury plagued McNabb w/ their 3 washed up running backs is going to propel their O to 6 more wins. I don't think Shany is that good of a coach. And this doesn't even address their secondary issues. But, we all know anything done by Snyder's organization isn't necessarily rational.
ReplyDeleteHowever,what do I know? I'm not one of the football geniuses in the Deadskins braintrust.
I think McNabb even at this state in his career is an upgrade to Campbell (what number offensive system is this for the poor guy), but you are right, they still have other issues. McNabb has has-been RBs, a terrible secondary, a bad o-line, and receivers the likes of which he had in his early days in Philly. Back then, he was able to make it work with lots of help from his legs. Now he has lost his running ability due to injury. The Redskins do have the #4 pick so they should improve, but it won't be perfect unless they go all out and out do the Eagles in the wheeling and dealing department, who will (likely and should be if they want any chance of a good defense and O-line next year) be the leaders there.
ReplyDeleteI don't see how this makes any difference when the head coach is still the same.
ReplyDeleteThe offense will still undervalue the running game and be almost one-dimensional.