TRUSTS CHOOCH IN A PINCH
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.
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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