Donovan McNabb is on the trade block.

During the start and middle of this past season, fans would have welcomed shipping McNabb off without much thought. His name made rounds in local and national newspapers, radio programs, and blogs that were demanding Kolb in, McNabb out. When you think about it, you can’t blame Philadelphia media or fans, this is who we are. We’re impatient. We ask, more than any other fan base, ‘what have you done for me lately?’ We want to win now, we’re desperate for a championship. What Eagles fans saw for the first half of the 2007 season was a quarterback without any mobility and several problems in his passing game. Now, if you’re a quarterback in the NFL, you’d better be able to pass the ball, running it is an added luxury (except Vince Young, he just runs). He missed open receivers, his pocket presence was awful. He fumbled, and well, looked like a quickly aging football player and fading star.

However, the tables turned for McNabb as his surgery from last year began to heal to a fuller extent. He also sprained an ankle and hurt a finger in an ugly win to the Dolphins. But with the ankle and finger OK, and his mobility and confidence growing every day, you could see shades of the old number 5 coming back into play. Eagles fans saw the jittery bounces and steps in the pocket, avoiding sacks here and there. We saw his trademark bullet passes and with that, throws with great touch as well, and mostly with greater accuracy. Probably most importantly, we saw him run. The defining run that truly had fans saying, “I think Donovan might be back” was against New Orleans late in the game. Now granted he fumbled at the end (recovered by ball magnet Kevin Curtis), his legs were moving at a higher speed than any time in the past year. He observed the defense, saw he had nothing, and took off into the open field. Sure, the guy can’t run like he did when he was 24, but if he throws the ball well, the ability to run at least decently makes him a great double threat. Hell, he was smiling again, and rightfully so. Take a look at the 3 games that turned our opinions around; the last 3 games of the season:

@ DAL: 23/41 for 208 yds - 1TD - 0 INT - 78.1 rating - 9 carries for 53 yds …Result: 10-6 WIN

@ NO : 24/35 for 263 yds - 3TD - 0 INT - 119.1 rating - 6 carries for 37 yds … Result: 33-25 WIN

v BUF : 29/41 for 345 yds - 1TD - 1 INT - 94.1 rating - 1 carry for 0 yds … Result: 17-9 WIN

You can’t argue with games like that. When a quarterbacks’ lowest passer rating is 78, that’s not that terrible at all. Remember this too, that 78.1 rating came against a good Dallas defense on the road. It’s not like he had a free pass sitting back in the pocket, he was constantly pressured and controlled the game and made the passes he had to make. He also had a season high 53 yards rushing in that game, which certainly opened some eyes.

So, what’s all this “McNabb is back talk” all about? Why talk about it now? Well, according to recent articles from The Baltimore Sun, the Ravens were in trade talks with the Eagles for McNabb. Would it make sense just looking at it from the surface? Sure, why not. The Ravens have no quarterback: McNair is on the verge of retirement and Boller is a career back-up. Their offense was atrocious and at times made me nauseous just watching them play. So what could the Eagles land with this potential trade? How bout the Ravens draft pick - 8th overall - and another player or multiple players. So…is this happening?

                                  photo courtesy of Broad Street Believers

Thankfully, the entire rumor was proven to be false advertising, much to the delight of Eagles nation. It didn’t make sense for the Eagles or for the Ravens when you break it down. For the Ravens, you have to look at what you have right now: an aging and once great defense, and in inept offense. However, they are a young team overall, and there is a new coach in place. This is a time for transition and rebuilding for the Ravens. In this article by Baltimore Sun writer Bill Ordine, he points out that the Ravens, no matter what coach, have been a team that creates stars through the draft, and not so much on big free agent acquisitions. With the 8th pick in the draft, the Ravens could have their choice of Brian Brohm, Matt Ryan, Colt Brennan, etc etc. They will have their shot at taking a young quarterback in the draft, it wouldn’t make much sense at all to give up a high end pick and players for a 31 year old quarterback, especially with the state of their team as it is (rebuilding).

As for the Eagles side of things, this trade doesn’t make sense for what was noted earlier: the last 3 games of 2007. He looked back in form. He moved around well for the first time in a long time. He was throwing the ball well, just 1 INT to 5 TD in the last 3 games, and looked more and more like the number 5 we have come to know and love.

So, even though this trade has been essentially killed by both sides, it was stupid to bring up in the first place. McNabb isn’t and shouldn’t be going anywhere this off-season. Now that he seems back to pro-bowl form, when you place him into an offense with several veteran players that are all playing at high levels (Runyan, Thomas, Westbrook, Curtis, etc), this offense becomes very scary for opposing defenses.

This team’s window is not closed, not at all. But if they had traded McNabb, it would have slammed shut. So quit the trade talk, because come September, the Eagles..led onto the field by Donovan McNabb, will be legit contenders once again.