he had just turned that franchise around by leading them to a Super Bowl win, NE was getting worse every year w/ Bledsoe who wasn't that good at his peak. Going w/ Brady was a no brainer.
Brady was a 6th round pick who had just won a Super Bowl. That qualifies as "proven" by most reasonable standards.
As someone who knows the NFC East very well, here's my take on the trade FWIW... Positives for Washington. 1. They have, in my mind, guaranteed themselves at least twice the number of wins they had last year (4). Jason Campbell wasn't the reason they lost a lot of the games they did last year, but he didn't help win a ton of them either. His 4:3 TD:INT ratio can't hold a candle to McNabb's. Donovan will put up similar TD numbers and yardage, but will do a MUCH better job of taking care of the football. The improved QB play coupled with what's already a pretty good defensive unit should guarantee they go 500. 2. They have a vet leader to help bring Devon Thomas, Malcolm Kelly, and Fred Davis around. They have some young weapons on that offense and none of them have really lived up to their respective billings. McNabb has experience bringing alone young WR/TE (most recently in Celek and Jackson) and might be able to help his new teammates contribute. 3. This is speculation on my part, but it wouldn't shock me if the Redskins still took a QB in this draft. While I doubt they go QB at #4, unless Bradford somehow falls, I can see them trading back and drafting Colt McCoy; supposedly their scouts are high on him. McNabb would be an excellent mentor for McCoy or any other younger signal-caller they brought in. He can also held season Colt Brennan if the FO there hasn't given up on him yet. Positives for the Eagles: 1. They are LOADED with picks in a draft that is oozing with talent. I hate to even think of this, but the Eagles may trade up and try to land Eric Berry. The lack of an elite safety on their defense was a major liability last year; they might try to bring him in to be their new Dawkins. 2. It's quite possible that McNabb has taken the Eagles as far as he can and the remainder of his career would be more of the same. Most fans would be happy with that; Philly fans are not. Some in the Eagles FO believe Kolb is a better leader and could take them to the promised land. Now they get their wish. 3. That white-trash piece of shit city finally gets their wish and gets McNabb out of town. Negatives for Washington 1. They have a LOT more holes than just QB. You could even argue that, compared to some of their other positions of need, that QB wasn't really a problem that needed immediate addressing. Their OL is God-awful, they only have one proven WR (and he's a streaky player that is more suited for the #2 spot) and they have one healthy, capable running back between all 3 they just put on their roster. They also need some youth in their defensive front 7 (outside of Orakpo) and their DL in particular is getting VERY old (save for Fat Albert). Spending a high 2nd rounder on a 33 year old QB doesn't help address those problems. 2. He's going to need a new contract unless they only plan on keeping him for 2 years. That won't be cheap and, given the uncertainty surrounding the CBA, could be risky. 3. The long term benefits of trading for DM don't outweigh the long-term benefits of taking a good player with the 2nd rounder they just lost. McNabb is old and has a penchant for getting injured. He's been put behind one of the worst OLs in the league and has offensive weapons that, on the whole, are average at best. Negatives for Philly: 1. McNabb was THE leader on that offense. Celek, Maclin, Jackson, McCoy, Avant, and (to a lesser extent) Weaver are all young or younger players. McNabb provided veteran leadership and experience and was the straw that stirred that offenses drink. Considering the drop off in play their defense is experiencing (and will most likely continue to experience since they just traded away arguably their best CB) the offense needs to carry that team frequently. McNabb has shown he can do that. Can Kolb? 2. A team that yesterday could be viewed as a guaranteed 2 wins on your schedule just got much more competitive. Besides Andy Reid, who knew that offense better than DM? It'll be very interesting to see how those talented Washington DBs play the Eagles offense this season. 3. Kolb is VERY unproven. He played mop-up duty against Carolina and destroyed an abysmal KC team. The Saints victimized him in a shoot-out style of game; the onus was on him to deliver and he threw 3 picks against 2 TDs. Granted it's against a good team, but if this is how he answers the bell in the future it doesn't bode well for the Eagles. Bottomline: The NFC East is a toss up between Dallas, Philly, and the Giants. Each team has some question marks (how will Dallas OL be? can their secondary still cover? Was Miles Austin a 1 year wonder?) and each team needs to improve on certain areas (will the Giants defense suck ass again?). I still think Washington is the cellar-dweller of the division, but they definitely took a step in the right direction.
When Bledsoe left, Brady had demonstrated that he fit into the system perfectly with that SB win. How much more proven would you like a QB to be? Kolb's waaaay behind in that regard, but by all accounts, the Eagles have seen enough to think that while he's not as good of a QB as McNabb, he may be a better fit for their system.
Very good move for Washington for a very underrated passer. McNabb is accurate as all hell, and Cooley is the best tight end he's ever played with. The Redskins have never rebuilt through the draft, so that's moot. They are a much better team than they were last year. -X-
I think lots of people are completely ignoring the key issue here - the awful performance of the Eagles against the Cowboys the last week of the regular season and in the playoffs (they lost to them in week 9, too, in a close game). The Eagles front office clearly believes that that wasn't going to get any better in the future, and I don't see a lot of evidence to suggest otherwise. Given that belief, and given how good this year's draft is supposed to be, keeping McNabb another year would make no sense. If they don't think that McNabb is going to get them into the Super Bowl in the next year or two (and they clearly don't), trading him is the obvious thing to do. McNabb's record as a starter was 54-19 in the first 5 years he started (that's about a 12-4 pace) and 36-26-1 in the last 5 (that's about a 9-7 pace); that's not a lot of evidence suggesting good things in the future. As to trading him within the division, they obviously don't think that Washington will suddenly vault to the top of the division in the next year or two, which also strikes me as reasonable. Once you accept that premise, you go for the best deal you can get. The fact that Kolb won't take them to the Super Bowl in the next year or two, or that Washington might even have a better record than they do in that time, is besides the point; it's what happens past that time that matters, and they clearly think that Kolb is the real thing, and McNabb won't matter because he won't be an effective NFL QB by then even if the rest of the Redskins team gets better. As to the supposed racism of the city, I'll leave that to the amateur sociologists out there. To claim that the Eagles have treated McNabb unfairly in response to that supposed racism strikes me as ridiculous, however - he's been the starter for 10 straight years, which is a hell of a lot more of a commitment than most teams show. If they cared about what some moronic fans thought, they would have gotten rid of him a few years ago.
My issue with the trade is that I feel they could have gotten better compensation elsewhere. If they believe Kolb is the future and that they are better off trading McNabb that's all well and good, but I still believe they could have gotten more for him.
I don't think it's a case of racism at all, philly just has awful fans. Every sport their fans are atrocious.
It's the longtime starting star QB being traded in the division. It's reasonable and probably the only close comparison.
True, but trading Bledsoe to the Bills was still ballsy, considering that the Bills were considered the Pats biggest threat at that time.
it's not nearly as close in terms of utter retardation though. the pats had a super bowl winning qb on their hands when they traded bledsoe within the division. the eagles are trading the best qb the franchise has ever seen to replace him with a guy that has a handful of starts in the league.
Yeah, racism has nothing to do with it. I have a tough time believing that racists would have spent last season clamoring for McNabb to be replaced by Mike Vick, a black guy literally fresh out of prison. It has everything to do with Philly fans being entitled, impatient, unrealistic assholes. They've hated McNabb from day one, and they decided to make him the scapegoat for their team's inability to get over the hump. Blame McNabb all you want, but he wasn't the one who couldn't stop Stephen Davis. He wasn't the one who got alligator arms every time a defender stood within 5 yards of the ball. He wasn't the one who couldn't contain stop the Cardinals final drive. He wasn't the one who threw up during the Super Bowl (oh wait, that was him.) My point is: McNabb has been a top 10 QB in this league for a long time now. He's been better than any quarterback in the history of their franchise (and better than many teams, including our Jets, have had in theirs.) He deserved better from Philly fans. That's not to say that the fans hating him had anything to do with the Eagles getting rid of him, however. This is all about Andy Reid trying to buy a few more years of job security.
I thought the early news on this was that Reid was against trading McNabb? If so, I think it really is a boneheaded front office move meddling when they shouldn't.
According to the reports, the Eagles took the best offer. Of course there were rumors that McNabb had threatened to retire rather than go to the Raiders....
