No Guarantee McNabb Will Be Back In 2010
While Donovan McNabb likely will remain the Eagles’ starting quarterback for the next 2 seasons, I’ve got to disagree with those who think his recently-reworked contract makes that a given.
No Guarantee McNabb Will Be Back In 2010
Paul Domowitch, Daily News NFL Columnist
(David Maialetti / Staff photographer)
While Donovan McNabb likely will remain the Eagles’ starting quarterback for the next 2 seasons, I’ve got to disagree with those who think his recently-reworked contract makes that a given.
With or without his restructured deal, McNabb was going to be the team’s No. 1 quarterback this season. But his future with the Eagles beyond 2009 still will be determined by how he and the team do this season. His reworked deal doesn’t change that.
Let me explain. Under the previous terms of McNabb’s contract, the quarterback was scheduled to receive non-guaranteed base salaries of $9.2 million this year and $10 million in 2010.
Under the new terms, that $9.2 million this year is guaranteed, which really is irrelevant, since he was going to get that anyway if he was on the team’s season-opening roster. He also will get a $2.8 million roster bonus later this week and per-game bonuses that total another $500,000 if he is active for all 16 regular-season games.
But the restructuring of the final year of his deal in no way makes it onerous for the Eagles to trade or release him after the ’09 season if they decide it’s time to make a switch to Kevin Kolb.
While McNabb can pocket an extra $1.2 million in the final year of the reworked deal, just $3.5 million of his 2010 money is guaranteed, which is hardly enough to make the Eagles think twice about getting rid of him. Under the reworked terms, his base salary dropped from $10 million to $5 million, with the aforementioned $3.5 million of it guaranteed. He also has a $6.2 million roster bonus payable on May 5 of next year, in addition to $500,000 more in per-game bonuses.
But just as the Eagles did with Terrell Owens, when they released him before he was due a sizeable offseason roster bonus, they can release McNabb prior to next May and won’t be on the hook for a penny of that $6.2 million. All McNabb would be owed for 2010 is that $3.5 million guaranteed portion of his salary.
Bottom line, McNabb’s future with the Eagles beyond this season still will be determined by how this season goes. If he stays healthy and puts up big numbers and leads his team deep into the playoffs, he’ll be back. If he doesn’t, and/or the Eagles underachieve this season, Kevin Kolb will get his chance in 2010. McNabb’s restructured contract doesn’t change that.
Comments (47)
Blah blah blah. I'll start caring about 2010 when the Birds lose the NFC Championship in January.— celtic_13
Comment removed.- Non-story. This is just a reach.— HandNik
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- Let's hope he takes us to the Promised Land. Then everyone's happy except for local Cowboys fans.— stingo
- Was this neccessary?— phillyfan14
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FLASH - No gaurantee Les will be around much longer if he keeps writing articles like this one.— Richard Saunders- Stingo... and the local Giants fans, and the local Redskins fans, and don't forget the McNabb/Reid/FO haters! They'd rather be proven right than to see McNabb and Reid win!— knighn
- McNabb will perform well this year, get a new contract and Kolb will be traded for a draft pick.— rwright611
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- i dont understand why people make comments about how everything any reporter writes is a "non-story" or "just a reach" or "useless info". if you dont like the article, then why are you reading it?? i am not a contract expert, so i actually found this info useful. its good to know that the Eagles aren't definitely stuck with McNabb next year too.— FireAndyReid
- well i say we need to win it within these next 2 years that will determine wether Mcnabb is here or not after 2010. Once Mcnabb leaves the team will be totally different, and if Kolb is the qb(whom i have absolutly 0 faith in)..God help us.— trelle
- From this perspective, why was McNabb in such a lather to restructure his deal? But I do take the stance that, if he wins, everyone will have a collective memory loss that there was ever a problem. Win a SB and repeat win the SB and he'll be HOF material and forever cemented into Philly historical lore as one of the greatest of all time. PS: every newly minted Yankee gets that tag, by the way.— RichieAllen64
Agreed, trelle, if Kolb ever gets the QB job the barfing will be in the stands, not on the field.— tpizza- More people b*tching about free entertainment - gotta love it...— Bobphxville
- Man, there must be a lot of quality NFL scouts that post here because a lot of you seem so positive that Kolb will fail after only seeing him play for 30 minutes.— gpicaro
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- gpicaro, in all seriousness I hope Kolb can play. There just hasn't been anything that can be seen that is positive about his play to date. True he doesn't get all the reps with the starters but he has had lots of time to learn, lots of preseason games and still no results. Here's hoping for the best but I personally don't have confidence and if DM goes I think AR will go too. We'll see. Hope I'm wromg.— tpizza
- Les....great clarification for all the McStink lackeys who were in denial that McTooth did not get an extension and thus a long term committment from the FO. McTub will in fact be gone after this year, the FO will make the move so mark May 4th, 2010 on your calendar as the end of the McScrub era. Then 5/King will change his handle (again, jeeze, how many times?) to either 5isaGONER or 5isaKOLBHATER. :)— SkipinWV
- just like we all want....a Super Bowl or his time has passed...and Andy's also.....sorry Donny, it has not been all your fault but after 11 years of failure to win the big one...(assuption that it does not happen this year....) You and ANDY must go....and hopefully you'll get moved to Arizona as they will want you there and the other guys is just too old...but Andy will stick around for one more year which should help Kolb and then when we don't win the arrogant one will finally go....but we will still have a young team....— nuggett
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- kolb can't hold don's jock. i think its ludicrous that he is the replacement on tap if don has a down season. Donovan is a future hall of famer that has done so much with so little in his 10 years here. he's got some fire power now and a solid defense (hopefully). getting rid of him would be the biggest mistake the org has EVER MADE.— ag
- Its funny how everyone hates Kolb who has not one chance to prove himself (dont even say bmore game). Any real football fan would say, hey look at Rivers when he was behind brees, people screamed bust. Give the kid a break he hasnt even played yet. All we do is hate everyone before they even start.. Im sure if he played awesome you would all be in love.— fman727
- What a waste of ink, it sure sounds to me that this guy is a true McNabb hater. I guess that's what happens when all you could produce were girls. Imagine if someone were to write a feature story on this guy and his relationship with his family and disclose how his current contract and salary were structured. So we waited over three weeks to hear some good football news and all we can get from the Philly media is how one man's salary has become the main topic of discussion. How pathetic is this media source. If I were Donovan I would do all of my talking on Yardbarker. At least it would be factual and directly from him and not misquoted or twisted to create sensationalism from this inept media. Plus the fanbase could get it first hand and formulate their own decisions and not be misdirected.— thetruth1960
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- Eagles could have a very mediocre 8-8 record, and McNabb would still be back next year. Absolutely no way the Eagles will release him (like they did TO) to save $6.2M. Even if McNabb has a horrible year professionally, and the FO decides to move forward with the Kolb era, McNabb is too valuable off the bench if/when that experiment is a bust. PS--Not sure why you're so quick to run him out of town, Paul, with all this negative talk. I think the Eagles are positioned quite well to make another Championship run in a rather-weak NFC.— CaptMorgan
- My question is doesn't Les's boss have to approve an article before it's printed? Maybe that person should be the one fired.— bobf123
It is so comical about how people comment about how bad a "news story" is when IT IS A BLOG! Read the title! Both papers now have blogs for all teams so that they can update their fans on the web during the day and not just write their news stories for the paper during the day. In the same vein, these stories are not journalistic new stories (similar to my post here). They are not meant to be of the same quality with quotes and the like. They are BLOGS! So PAUL (who wrote this, not Les) is simply pointing out to a lot of people who incorrectly have been commenting that this contract is guaranteed for two years when, in fact, it is not. Good blog today Paul. Look forward to your next COLUMN.- Comment removed.
- Remember, all of these issues start with the media trying to make stories out of nothing. They started the stories saying that McNabb should ask for a new contract this year because the organization wronged him when they benched him. Amazing how they were actually RIGHT and he played better after he was benched.— SlinkTMP
- The "barfing will be in the stands" if McNabb is not back? Oh man....— Chuckle Berry
- The Eagles will trade Kolb, and their 2010 2nd round pick and 1st round pick for the #3 overall pick, and they will select Texas QB Colt McCoy, who will study Reid's system for two or three years under McNabb. I doubted this prediction would come true until the Eagles selected Maclin and McCoy, the players who in February, I predicted the Eagles would draft.— montgomeryhopkins
- Kolb gets in for 1 series and McNabb slaves are down on him even though he threw into the end zone..something Donavan has problems with. Reid does not give his RB's and QB's enough game experience and it shows when he forced to use them.— tulsaphil
- Kolb gets in for 1 series and McNabb slaves are down on him even though he threw into the end zone..something Donavan has problems with. Reid does not give his RB's and QB's enough game experience and it shows when he forced to use them.— tulsaphil
- Hmmm, wonder why McNabb and the Eagles weren't eager to talk about his contract? Just look at all of the overanalysis of the restructured contract by the local media since they announced the deal. It would be great if you guys would actually talk about football occasionally.— JimG
- Good story. Not sure why all the negative reactions (above). This insight wasn't provided in other articles about McNabb's contract, and certainly hasn't been discussed by fans.— tacklinjoe
- ANOTHER LAME PHILLY MEDIA STORY TRYING TO CAUSE CONTROVERSY.— maximus
- Paul, a good lucid article which makes some interesting points. Given the degree of ignorance and illiteracy demonstrated daily on this blog I am amazed that you are able to persevere. You must have a very tough skin. Keep the faith brother.— obergruber
- To those of you drinking the grape Chunky Soup, I hope I am proven wrong and McChoke wins a Super Bowl. Till that happens, however, he is an exceptionally talented QB with obvious flaws in his game. They include drastic inconsistency from series to series, the inability to hit someone in stride consistently, the inability to throw touch passes consistently, and most importantly, the inability to win the big one. These do not diminish that he has been a good to very good QB for many years, has been in a one dimensional offense that does not suit his strengths, and, with a few immature exceptions (the oafish clowning on the field and sideline during games, the "I don't get involved with contracts T.O." vs. "We should sign Westbrook" a few weeks later...can you say hypocrite?, & of course the constant refrain, "They booed me at the draft..."), a class act off the field.
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- I love how people judge Kolb after one bad throw. Did you do the same with McNabb after he threw his first interception? We know Donovan is a good QB, not top five but good but he does choke in the big spot that's a fact. Maybe Kolb will also be a good QB (also not top five)but not choke in the big spot, after this season we'll get to find out— Will T.
- Worthless article that does nothing but stir up more gossip...but....To all my fellow Eagles "fans" out there....Give Kolb a freakin' break!...In his 3 years he's thrown a wopping 34 passes...23 of them against the tough D of Baltimore...which #5 couldn't do anything against either....hence the benching. Evaluate him when it's time and he's gotten a legit chance to play. It's 2009 not 2010 or 2011. Do you think the Patriots fans were all smiles about having Bledsoe being replaced by a no-name Tom Brady!...Good thing they didn't trade him for a draft pick early in his career. Huh? We all know injuries can happen....so your telling me that if McNabb goes down early this year (knock on wood) that all is lost?!...even with the amount of talent we have on O! C'mon! Be a real "fan" and stick with the team!— strausie08
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Eagletarian is your home for comprehensive coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Les Bowen
Daily News Staff Writer
Paul Domowitch
Daily News NFL Columnist
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