ESPN's Smith talks about McNabb report

It looks like I picked the perfect time to return from vacation.

Yesterday, ESPN.com's Michael Smith reported that the much-discussed meeting between Donovan McNabb and the Eagles' front office has already taken place.

The part of the story that has caught everyone in Philadelphia off-guard is that McNabb wants to see how the Eagles improve themselves offensively before discussing a new contract.

The Daily News' Les Bowen and Rich Hofmann, and The Inquirer's John Gonzalez have all offered their takes on the report.

Smith, the reporter who broke the story, joined ESPN 950's Mike Missanelli yesterday to talk about the article.

"They wanted to keep it quiet obviously because this is something that they want to handle internally," Smith said. "You know how the Eagles do business. They want to handle it internally. But stuff gets out."

Smith said simply drafting an offensive player in the first round probably wouldn't be enough to appease McNabb.

"I don't think he's looking for somebody else's discarded No. 2 receiver or discarded No. 3 receiver," Smith said. "In my opinion, I think what would make him happy is an Anquan Boldin, if they could swing a trade for him, a T.J. Houshmandzadeh if they could sign him, a Tony Gonzalez if they could swing a trade for him."

Throughout the interview, it was clear that Smith agreed with McNabb that the Eagles need to surround him with better weapons.

"The bottom line is if he's going to stay, he wants to know that they're committed to building a Super Bowl team," Smith said.

"That's giving him the same weapons that Peyton Manning has gotten over the years. ...Every other franchise quarterback that's been successful has been put in that position to succeed with the talent around him except for this guy."

Click here to listen to the podcast interview with Smith.