IS CHATTIN' CITY HOOPS WITH JOE
UPDATED, 11:10 p.m.
The Redskins have finally confirmed the trade, issuing a statement from coach Mike Shanahan: "Donovan is an accomplished quarterback who has been a proven winner in the National Football League. I have long admired his competitiveness and feel he will be an outstanding addition to the Redskins and our community. He knows our division and the roadmap to success in the NFC East. He will set a high standard of excellence and we are very excited to welcome Donovan to the Washington Redskins."
UPDATED, 10:25 p.m.
Donovan McNabb had issued the following statement: "I’m really excited about my future with the Washington Redskins. I’m eager to work with Coach Shanahan. He’s been a very successful coach with a couple of Super Bowl victories on his resume. While it’s been my goal to win a Super Bowl in Philadelphia, we came up short. I enjoyed my 11 years here and we shared a lot more good times than bad."
UPDATED, 9:40 p.m.
Jeff Nalley, the agent for Kevin Kolb, told the Daily News that Kolb is excited about the team and its talent.
Andy Reid had this to say about Kolb during his news conference: "You see somebody that, No. 1 has been taught by good coaches and had an opportunity to play under Donovan and learn how to do it the right way. He’s followed that direction. He’s prepared himself for this opportunity. We see leadership and athletic ability and he does a nice job reading defenses."
"He needs to be Kevin Kolb and not be Donovan McNabb. He needs to make his own mark and do his own thing. He has not done that yet. Everything else is subjective that I have the confidence in him to do that."
More from Reid: "This was a tough decision for many people in trading Donovan. He was a great player here for 11 years, set every record with this organization. I have nothing but good things to say about donovna. Unfortunately things like this happen in the National Football League. If you’re lucky enough to stay around long enough, as I have, you have to go thorugh situations like this where you have to go in a different direction. We have to have a lot of confidence in Kevin Kolb to make this decision. He will be the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles."
Reid said he had spoken with McNabb and that "he understands the business."
"You can’t erase the last 11 years. We had a lot of great years together," Reid said.
Reid clearly had McNabb's future in mind, as he mentioned several times about making a deal that "was best for us and best for Donovan."
"We wanted to do things that were good for us and good for Donovan and we felt if there was the right mix there that is what we would do."
"Donovan would have played anywhere. That's just because of the kind of person that he is."
"He was fine with going to the Redskins and he'll do a good job for them."
"Are they a better football team with Donovan? Absolutely."
Added Reid, "We sat back. We listened to offers on all three quarterbacks. It became evident this was the right time and the right way to go and the compensation was right."
Asked about McNabb's legacy, Reid said: "I think it should be he was the greatest quarterback to ever play for the Philadelphia Eagles to this point."
On what the Eagles acquired: "The fifth pick in the second round is not a bad pick, particularly with the way the draft is set up now, where you can take a deep breath after the first round and have a day. That’s a nice pick."
On Michael Vick, Reid said: "He's with us right now."
As for the issue of rebuilding, "I don’t know if we’re rebuilding. I don’t see it that way. When it's time to play we’ll have a good football team. We’re going to do everyting that’s best for the team. We feel these moves will help us down the road here."
UPDATED:
The Eagles have confirmed the trade of Donovan McNabb to the Redskins for a second-round pick this year, No. 37 overall, and a conditional third- or fourth-round pick next year.
The first thing that jumps out is that the Eagles have traded McNabb within the division to a team they must face twice each season.
McNabb will leave as the Eagles’ all-time leader in most passing categories, including yards (32,873), completions (2,801), attempts (4,746), completion percentage (59.0%) and touchdown passes (216).
He also rushed for 3,249 yards and 28 touchdowns.
The Eagles were 92-49-1 in regular season games he started, 9-7 in the playoffs.
After the Eagles acknowledged they were entertaining offers for all three quarterbacks and the speculation centerted on McNabb, McNabb said he was hoping for a quick resolution. After days of rumors and then reports that a deal might not get done until the draft, the deal was announced tonight.
“Donovan McNabb was more than a franchise quarterback for this team,” Eagles chairman Jeffrey Lurie said. “He truly embodied all of the attributes of a great quarterback and of a great person. He has been an excellent epresentative of this organization and the entire National Football League both on and off the field. I look forward to honoring him as one of the greatest Eagles of all-time and hopefully see him enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton one day.”
“This was a very tough decision,” said head coach Andy Reid. “Donovan McNabb represented everything a football player could be during his 11 seasons in Philadelphia. He carried this organization to new heights and set a high standard of excellence both on and off the field. We thank him for everything he did for this football team and for this city.”
“Donovan is the ultimate professional,” said Eagles president Joe Banner. “He has an incredible work ethic and has been an integral part of our success. Over the years, Donovan has always carried himself with a great deal of dignity. He’s an excellent role model for young men and women from across the region. In my mind, he’ll always be remembered as one of the greatest Eagles of all time.”
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said: “Donovan is clearly one of the all-time greatest Eagles and he represented this team and this city with class over the last 11 years. Certainly a deal of his magnitude took a lot of time and effort to accomplish and it was certainly a tough decision to make in the end. We wish he and his family all the best.”
Fox Sports' Jay Glazer first mentioned interest by the Redskins yesterday via Twitter. A Redskins source told the Washington Post yesterday that conversations between the two teams likely took place earlier in the process. Obviously, talks heated up in the last few days, leading to the trade.
New Redskins coach Mike Shanahan is looking to put his stamp on the Redskins in his first season, and that starts with the quarterback. The Redskins are expected to implement a new offense, so a new quarterback is not a surprise.
ESPN's Adam Schefter was the first to report the trade.
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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