National Football League

McNabb trade signature for new regime

Published Apr. 6, 2010 4:30 p.m. ET

foxsports

No more fantasy football-like personnel moves; those days are over for the Washington Redskins. Owner Daniel Snyder might not have done the Donovan McNabb trade, still wanting to put all of Washington’s firepower into trading up for Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford. We all heard how upset he was last year when his former personnel pal, Vinny Cerrato, was out-foxed by the Bears and lost out on Denver quarterback Jay Cutler.

So, give new Redskins general manager Bruce Allen and head coach Mike Shanahan their props for being in charge and making a reasonable trade for a 33-year-old quarterback. The Cardinals weren’t parting with a first-round pick and neither were the 49ers. And already, according to my friends at Bodog.com, the Redskins’ odds to win the Super Bowl have dropped from 55-1 to 30-1 with McNabb’s arrival. Granted, the Redskins remain longshots, but the Saints were 25-1 last summer and wherever Sean Payton shows up, they remain the toast of the football world.

Also, give Eagles coach Andy Reid credit. He could have banished McNabb to Oakland, but he had the guts to trade McNabb to a division rival and give his former quarterback two revenge opportunities a season. Apparently, Big Red doesn’t fear McNabb that much. He must be remembering those two lopsided losses to the Cowboys at last season’s end.

But the most intriguing combination is McNabb with Shanahan, who is respected as an excellent game-day coach with a super offensive mind. McNabb definitely was not sent to the woodshed for failing to win a Super Bowl in Philadelphia.

Shanahan was fired by Pat Bowlen in Denver for his string of horrible personnel moves, not because he couldn’t coach. McNabb should be able to make the Redskins respectable over the next few seasons. Still, Shanahan’s team has the same issue it entered the off-season with: how to protect their quarterback.

Realistically, they will now spend their first-round pick, fourth overall on April 22, on an offensive tackle, most likely Russell Okung, who visited the Redskins on Monday. Yes, Shanahan would have loved to have traded up for Bradford, too, but the price to move from four to No. 1 was too steep, plus the Rams need Bradford more than Washington does. The Redskins have tried to upgrade their offensive line, but they were unable to pry Chad Clifton away from Green Bay and everyone says ex-Viking Artis Hicks is more of a guard than a tackle.

By opening day, who knows what the Redskins will look like? They have signed two veteran running backs in Willie Parker and Larry Johnson, meaning that Clinton Portis has to report to training camp with his job on the line. Shanahan will give Portis a chance, but he tired of his antics in Denver and ended up trading him to Washington. The coach says all the right things now about Portis, but we all know that his days could be numbered in Washington if he’s not ready to rumble.

Further proof that Allen and Shanahan are in charge was the fact that they offered Snyder’s big free-agency prize of last season, Albert Haynesworth, to the Eagles for McNabb. A year ago, Haynesworth had signed the richest contract ever for a defensive player, $41 million guaranteed, and now he’s pouting about playing nose tackle in a 3-4 defensive alignment. Yes, it may take two linemen to effectively block Fat Albert, but he’s often hurt and not always trying. You would think, after all that money, he’d be at Redskins Park ingratiating himself to his new bosses. But that’s what Snyder gets for spending huge money on a big guy without checking his character before writing the check.

Shanahan has already said that the Redskins will focus next on getting McNabb signed to an extension -- he’s in the final year of his contract -- so this is looking like a long-term marriage. If Jason Campbell can find a team willing to trade for him, and the former starter’s value can’t be much, then he will be elsewhere and Rex Grossman will be McNabb’s caddy.

This was the perfect landing spot for McNabb, whose front-office demeanor never won over all the players in the Philadelphia locker room. Remember, it took almost two seasons for many of the Eagles to forget about his ugly end with Terrell Owens. Yes, he’s a consummate pro and all that, but he’s always been a political animal and now he’s in the nation’s capitol. I mean, how perfect is that?

What this trade also means is that Shanahan wasn’t willing to draft Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Claussen and hope to develop a winner. Or Tim Tebow with the second-round pick he just sent to Philadelphia for McNabb. However, Shanahan did give the Eagles the draft ammunition to make a run at Tebow if they so desire, and that makes a ton of sense because Reid spent so much time on the wildcat offense with Michael Vick last season.

It’s not easy dumping a franchise quarterback, something McNabb was in Philadelphia, and the only way the Eagles win on this one is if Kevin Kolb performs like Aaron Rodgers did in Green Bay last season. Of course, the Eagles can’t afford to get swept by McNabb like the Packers were by that new grandfather, Brett Favre!