How the Eagles moved on from McNabb
By Mike Jensen and Ashley Fox
Inquirer Staff Writers
For most of March, while all of Philadelphia argued about whether Donovan McNabb should remain as the Eagles' quarterback, while coach Andy Reid stood by McNabb as his man for 2010, few people knew the truth.
The Eagles' decision-makers had already decided to trade McNabb, the face of the franchise for the last 11 years.
Reid sat at the head of the oval-shaped table. Banner took his usual place to Reid's right and Roseman sat to Reid's left, across from Banner. Lurie was next to Banner, farthest away from the coach. The usual seating chart for these kinds of meetings, according to Banner.
Very early that month, inside the NovaCare Complex in a conference room connected to Reid's office, the core four - Reid, team president Joe Banner, general manager Howie Roseman, and owner Jeffrey Lurie - met to finalize their decision, to talk strategy.
They weren't going to announce it to the world - or even tell McNabb, not yet - but the Eagles' brass had already concluded they were ready to look to the next decade. They'd had so many discussions in smaller groups that their decision to trade McNabb felt inevitable.
"The crux of the decision, and I think everybody [involved in the decision] would describe it the same way," Banner said, "[was that] we have two quarterbacks who are very good, we think . . . capable of winning a Super Bowl - I understand that needs to be proven. Donovan didn't do it. Kevin hasn't even tried yet. But at that point, it really became [a question of] one of them has a chance to lead us for the next eight to 10 years . . . one, who knows? One year? Four years? But a considerably shorter time."
The men already had posed a range of questions they deemed crucial:
Are we giving up a chance to win the Super Bowl this year? Are we right there if we wait another year?
Do we really have to go in one direction or the other right now?
If we keep McNabb, do we let him play one year? If we keep Kolb, can we leave him in the last year of his contract?
Who had been asking those last contractual questions?
"The odds are, it was me," Banner said. "That's kind of my role in the conversation. 'Let's just think of the cap implication, the contract side of this, the timing of the contract question.' "
According to Banner, Reid basically said: "I think either one of these guys are top-quality guys and we can win [this year] with them."
Banner acknowledged that if no trade had occurred, McNabb presumably would have gone to training camp as the starter again.
"We weren't in a panic mode, because we could've waited another year and it could've played out that way - but if we waited a year, maybe there would've been much less market value for Donovan," Lurie said. "He wouldn't be under contract to us, so we probably would've had to franchise him to have market value."
"It wasn't an easy decision, just a slam dunk, for me," Reid said. "You've got to evaluate age and you've got to evaluate what's left in the tank, who has the upside and who doesn't. You want to make sure you got maximum value for your football team because I'm not into giving good players away. I don't want to do that.
"Brett Favre was the last big-time [quarterback] to go someplace, and Brett was a little bit older. Green Bay got a fourth-round pick for him, so if it was going to be Donovan McNabb, who I figured could probably pull the most for our organization, I wanted to make sure it was at least close to what he was worth."
The whole debate wasn't new to any of the men in the room. Lurie called the move toward a decision "evolutionary." So many little conversations had led toward the need to come up with a strategic plan. The talks had been casual or intense, between two of the men or among a group
Reid talked frequently with offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. One participant said quarterback discussions went from occurring "two years ago, every now and then, 'What do you think?' - to this year, quite a bit. Many of them were brief. Some of them were a little more in-depth."
"There was a lot of . . . 'What if we get in the marketplace and people are offering X on one and Y for another, does that change our thinking?' " Banner said. "All that kind of stuff. 'If we brought them both back, what's the dynamic going to be?' There was a lot of that kind of discussion."
"We realized this was kind of an opportunity," Roseman said. "Losing both guys [McNabb and Kolb next year] and not getting any value. . . . For us, it was always on our mind."
There was no reason to make the decision earlier than the off-season, Banner said, since these issues sometimes sort themselves out, either through injury or on-the-field play. "Something [might] happen that would just make the decision obvious, which from our perspective never did happen," Banner said.
'We have a good young team'
It fit the plan. That's how Lurie put it: The decision to trade McNabb conformed with the organization's overall philosophy on developing quarterbacks. They had a young gun in Kevin Kolb, and a viable backup in Michael Vick. And all three Eagles quarterbacks had one year left on their contracts.
If there was an overriding theme to the climactic decision-making talks among the Eagles' brass, it may have come from the owner - "A sense of, 'Don't be risk-averse,' " Lurie said.
One detail of where the Eagles sent McNabb on April 4 - to Washington, a division rival they play twice a season - was a surprise. But it was also a nod to their respect for what McNabb had meant to the organization for more than a decade, and a response to a plea from McNabb for that respect.
Continued . . .
By Mike Jensen and Ashley Fox
Inquirer Staff Writers
For most of March, while all of Philadelphia argued about whether Donovan McNabb should remain as the Eagles' quarterback, while coach Andy Reid stood by McNabb as his man for 2010, few people knew the truth.
The Eagles' decision-makers had already decided to trade McNabb, the face of the franchise for the last 11 years.
Reid sat at the head of the oval-shaped table. Banner took his usual place to Reid's right and Roseman sat to Reid's left, across from Banner. Lurie was next to Banner, farthest away from the coach. The usual seating chart for these kinds of meetings, according to Banner.
Very early that month, inside the NovaCare Complex in a conference room connected to Reid's office, the core four - Reid, team president Joe Banner, general manager Howie Roseman, and owner Jeffrey Lurie - met to finalize their decision, to talk strategy.
They weren't going to announce it to the world - or even tell McNabb, not yet - but the Eagles' brass had already concluded they were ready to look to the next decade. They'd had so many discussions in smaller groups that their decision to trade McNabb felt inevitable.
"The crux of the decision, and I think everybody [involved in the decision] would describe it the same way," Banner said, "[was that] we have two quarterbacks who are very good, we think . . . capable of winning a Super Bowl - I understand that needs to be proven. Donovan didn't do it. Kevin hasn't even tried yet. But at that point, it really became [a question of] one of them has a chance to lead us for the next eight to 10 years . . . one, who knows? One year? Four years? But a considerably shorter time."
The men already had posed a range of questions they deemed crucial:
Are we giving up a chance to win the Super Bowl this year? Are we right there if we wait another year?
Do we really have to go in one direction or the other right now?
If we keep McNabb, do we let him play one year? If we keep Kolb, can we leave him in the last year of his contract?
Who had been asking those last contractual questions?
"The odds are, it was me," Banner said. "That's kind of my role in the conversation. 'Let's just think of the cap implication, the contract side of this, the timing of the contract question.' "
According to Banner, Reid basically said: "I think either one of these guys are top-quality guys and we can win [this year] with them."
Banner acknowledged that if no trade had occurred, McNabb presumably would have gone to training camp as the starter again.
"We weren't in a panic mode, because we could've waited another year and it could've played out that way - but if we waited a year, maybe there would've been much less market value for Donovan," Lurie said. "He wouldn't be under contract to us, so we probably would've had to franchise him to have market value."
"It wasn't an easy decision, just a slam dunk, for me," Reid said. "You've got to evaluate age and you've got to evaluate what's left in the tank, who has the upside and who doesn't. You want to make sure you got maximum value for your football team because I'm not into giving good players away. I don't want to do that.
"Brett Favre was the last big-time [quarterback] to go someplace, and Brett was a little bit older. Green Bay got a fourth-round pick for him, so if it was going to be Donovan McNabb, who I figured could probably pull the most for our organization, I wanted to make sure it was at least close to what he was worth."
The whole debate wasn't new to any of the men in the room. Lurie called the move toward a decision "evolutionary." So many little conversations had led toward the need to come up with a strategic plan. The talks had been casual or intense, between two of the men or among a group
Reid talked frequently with offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. One participant said quarterback discussions went from occurring "two years ago, every now and then, 'What do you think?' - to this year, quite a bit. Many of them were brief. Some of them were a little more in-depth."
"There was a lot of . . . 'What if we get in the marketplace and people are offering X on one and Y for another, does that change our thinking?' " Banner said. "All that kind of stuff. 'If we brought them both back, what's the dynamic going to be?' There was a lot of that kind of discussion."
"We realized this was kind of an opportunity," Roseman said. "Losing both guys [McNabb and Kolb next year] and not getting any value. . . . For us, it was always on our mind."
There was no reason to make the decision earlier than the off-season, Banner said, since these issues sometimes sort themselves out, either through injury or on-the-field play. "Something [might] happen that would just make the decision obvious, which from our perspective never did happen," Banner said.
'We have a good young team'
It fit the plan. That's how Lurie put it: The decision to trade McNabb conformed with the organization's overall philosophy on developing quarterbacks. They had a young gun in Kevin Kolb, and a viable backup in Michael Vick. And all three Eagles quarterbacks had one year left on their contracts.
If there was an overriding theme to the climactic decision-making talks among the Eagles' brass, it may have come from the owner - "A sense of, 'Don't be risk-averse,' " Lurie said.
One detail of where the Eagles sent McNabb on April 4 - to Washington, a division rival they play twice a season - was a surprise. But it was also a nod to their respect for what McNabb had meant to the organization for more than a decade, and a response to a plea from McNabb for that respect.
Continued . . .
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