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Retirement decisions and McNabb

Generally speaking, I can't stand stories about retirement decisions.

Like many of you, I never click on those headlines and wait until late August to find out who is actually calling it quits.

But this offseason, the retirement stories will carry a little more weight to this crowd.

Specifically, we're talking about Kurt Warner and Brett Favre.

Why? Because as we beat this Donovan McNabb/Kevin Kolb thing to death, the question that always arises is: Which teams could be interested in McNabb if the Eagles decide to shop him?

And invariably, the Cardinals and Vikings are mentioned as possible destinations.

Now, if those teams are interested in McNabb, will they press Warner and Favre for decisions earlier than usual? If Favre and Warner drag their decisions on, should we take it as a sign that those franchises have no interest in McNabb? Or maybe that the Eagles aren't shopping him?

Some things to keep an eye on, along with a couple other dates:

One is April 22. That's the NFL draft.

The other is May 5. That's when the Eagles owe McNabb a $6.2M roster bonus, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

As for the other quarterbacks, ESPN.com's Rick Reilly came away from an interview with Warner convinced that he's going to call it quits.

"It means I pray that God takes away the desire in me to play this game," Warner told Reilly. "I've loved it for so long. I need Him to take that away from me, so that I can be comfortable with this decision."

Favre told ESPN's Ed Werder that he's "highly unlikely" to play again. Obviously, that means nothing. He just turned in one of the best performances of his career. I think Favre will get the itch to give it another go.

Anyway, we'll keep an eye on the retirement stories as the offseason continues and, when appropriate, try to project how they could affect the Eagles.

So you can go ahead and continue to ignore those headlines elsewhere.

SI.com's Peter King mentioned McNabb and Kolb in his Monday Morninq Quarterback column:

Lot of buzz about whether the Eagles will go with Kevin Kolb or Donovan McNabb as the QB of the future. Only one man knows for sure. The Big Man. Andy Reid. He says McNabb, but why do I think that's a tepid endorsement?

It's interesting to note that King is one of the only (maybe the only) national writer who seems to support the notion of the Eagles dealing McNabb and going with Kolb.

Yesterday we posted 10 observations on each of the championship games:

Saints-Vikings

Colts-Jets