I can’t imagine what the perception of Donovan McNabb is among football fans around the country. If they aren’t tired of the story, they are more patient than I am, or else they are one of the handful of Raider fans that want him to come to Oakland. I think we’ve officially run out of talking points on McNabb. He’s not appreciated, he’s not a winner, he’s a franchise quarterback, he has no value…all of that is just noise to me at this point. I don’t know if McNabb was appreciated the proper amount. All I know is what I thought of him. Do I think you could win a Super Bowl with McNabb? Yes, I do. But, I don’t know that McNabb will win you a Super Bowl. That’s the distinction that so many seem to have trouble making.
If Donovan was the Steelers quarterback for the 2006 Super Bowl against Seattle do I think the Steelers would have won? Absolutely. Could he have drastically altered the losing team’s fortunes? I doubt it. And, that is McNabb for me. Nothing more, nothing less. I know that for a couple more years he will probably be among the better quarterbacks in the league, but barring an unforeseen circumstance here or with another team, he isn’t going to win a Super Bowl. The Eagles aren’t good enough, and the teams he is likely to be traded to aren’t good enough either.
So, that’s what I think of McNabb for the most part. I don’t think he should be the starter, or given an extension, or be allowed to pick and choose where he is traded to. Those decisions are unfortunately not up to me, and McNabb is owed none of that. Football is a business. I think he understands this. He’ll be fine if he’s traded, just like he was fine when he wasn’t really booed on draft day. If the Eagles want to cut ties, they should cut ties, but for the sake of everyone and especially Donovan, can we just stop jerking the guy around?
He’s put his time in here. Let’s stop dragging his name through the media every single day. Let’s stop single-handedly keeping the entire ESPN football crew busy. Stop leaking information, stop flip-flopping on McNabb’s status, and just get something done. You may say the media’s treatment of this isn’t the Eagles fault, but surely they should have expected this is what it would turn into. The contract situations, the decade long history, the way last season ended. I know the Eagles are arrogant, but did they think everyone was going to sit by quietly and wait for something to happen?
As I said before, the way it looks now, the Eagles have bungled this quarterback situation. And, the only way to start to repair that is to make a definitive move. If for nothing else, the sake of McNabb. Hate him, love him, either way he doesn’t deserve this.