IS TAKING DOC TO SEE THE DOC
Finally, amidst all the smoke and mirrors, an actual source close to the situation has spoken.
Your Eagletarian just talked to Donovan McNabb's agent, Fletcher Smith, who said he has no reason to believe a trade is imminent, and says there have been no conversations with the Eagles about which teams the quarterback would or would not prefer to be traded to.
"If we get to that bridge, we'll have to cross it," said Smith, who said his client is holding up well under the torrent of speculation.
Smith noted that McNabb has been at the center of the whirlwind before. "There's always something, every offseason."
Contrary to a Friday ESPN report, Smith said he did not believe McNabb had spoken recently with Eagles coach Andy Reid. Smith said that right now, there isn't that much for them to talk about.
The report said McNabb told Reid he wanted to stay in Philadelphia, not be traded to Oakland or Buffalo. A McNabb spokesman said this afternoon that McNabb and Reid text one another frequently. The spokesman said McNabb, indeed, wants to stay with the Eagles, but that McNabb and Reid have not texted or spoken on that subject.
Smith also questioned whether Reid's comments this week, acknowledging that the Birds are listening to offers for all three of their quarterbacks, is the definite signal of a McNabb trade that everyone seems to have turned it into.
Smith said that "given the sensitivity of the situation" he hopes the Eagles talk to McNabb about his preferences before they trade him, if they trade him. "Donovan has been there a long time. I would think they would want to do right by him, reach out, tell him what their intentions are."
If the Eagles don't end up trading McNabb, after what is surely going to be a long spring of endless rumors, can No. 5 take the helm and lead the team as if nothing had ever happened?
"It can't be any more difficult than T.O.," Smith said.
True, that.
There is good reason to think Smith might be right about nothing happening right away. A team source confirmed that Eagles president Joe Banner remained in Florida for a little vacation time following this week's league meetings, and that Reid is doing the same in Utah. Of course, this isn't 1950, the principals don't have to be huddled around one phone in a conference room, but the most important trade of the Reid Era probably isn't going to be made while Andy's wading in a trout stream, or something.
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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