Redskins flounder in open water; Eagles toss them a raft

I cannot believe that the Eagles decided to trade Donovan McNabb to the Washington Redskins. At what point do you decide to trade your starting QB to a division rival? And it's not like they're trading an obviously awful QB (say, Jake Delhomme) to a division rival in hopes that he'll sabotage that team instead of yours; McNabb is still a good player with at least a couple of good seasons left in him.

The Redskins came into the offseason with two major needs: an answer at QB, and offensive line help. They don't have a bad defense, with Brian Orakpo, Andre Carter and Albert Haynesworth in their front seven, and guys like Carlos Rogers, DeAngelo Hall and LaRon Landry in their secondy. I mean, hey it's not great (especially that secondary) but I think you can win with the players they have defensively. For instance, they gave up only 24 points total in two games against Dallas, and yet somehow lost both games.

So now they've found their answer at QB in McNabb (although that may only be a one year answer barring a contract extension), and now they can use their #4 pick on an offensive tackle. They were going to have a major quandary on their hands with that 4th pick, deciding whether to take a QB or OT. But now that they have McNabb, their free to take an OT and will have filled their two major offseason needs. Their offense should be miles better now, and it's all because the Eagles voluntarily gave them their starting QB. They have emerging receiving threats in Devin Thomas and Fred Davis, along with veterans Santana Moss and Chris Cooley. And yeah, this doesn't solve everything for Washington. Even with a new offensive tackle, their offensive line will still be lacking, and those RBs (Portis, Larry Johnson, Willie Parker) are ancient. But this brings them a hell of a lot closer to the playoffs than they would have been otherwise.

The Eagles got good value in return, with a high 2nd round pick and a 3rd or 4th rounder next year. But is it worth it to help out your division rival so greatly? I'm not going to predict it right now, but it wouldn't surprise me if the Redskins become a playoff team thanks to this trade. Their roster wasn't terrible to begin with (not your average 4-12 team), and they'll have filled their two biggest needs with a good QB and a high draft pick on the offensive line. You couldn't have asked for a better offseason for the Redskins.

As for the Eagles, they're putting all of their eggs in the Kevin Kolb basket, and I think that's a questionable basket. They're around him every day and they think he's ready; I get it. And the Eagles are a successful franchise, so it's tough to question them, but I'm going to go ahead and do it. You'll hear a lot about how Kolb threw for over 300 yards in each of his two starts last year, but the first was a blowout loss to the Saints in which he threw 3 INTs and padded his stats late (shades of Jeff George). And the second was against Kansas City, which barely counts as NFL competition. I don't know...I'm not going to say Kolb isn't ready, but I refuse to blindly accept it as fact. I think it's a hell of a limb to climb out on, for a team that was the 2nd seed in the NFC entering the final week of the season.

So yeah...I think this is a horribly dumb move by the Eagles. Not to trade McNabb necessarily (although he's not as replaceable as they believe), but to trade him within the division and help the Redskins kill two birds with one stone. I think it would be worth it to take a lesser offer from a team that's out of the division and out of the conference. Why would you voluntarily help a team you're in direct competition with? That boggles my mind.

As for other teams who were in the McNabb sweepstakes...yeah, you messed up. The Oakland Raiders could be like the Redskins, meaning a potential playoff team with better quarterbacking, but instead they'll continue with Russell and Gradkowski (good luck with aaaaaall that), and the Cardinals were the team that should have beaten the door down to get McNabb. I heard Adam Schefter on ESPN say that the Cardinals might not be interested because they added a QB...uhh no, Derek Anderson does not count as adding a QB. Derek Anderson should never stand between you picking up McNabb or not. The Cardinals rely on their passing game to lead the way, but Matt Leinart and Anderson are questionable options to trigger that attack. It made so much sense for Arizona to trade for McNabb that, of course, it didn't happen. The Carolina Panthers were another team that made sense for McNabb, but since they're paying Jake Delhomme $12M not to play for them, they'll be saving money this off-season. Hello Matt Moore and his sub-$1M yearly salary.

Good for the Redskins, though, who annually make horrible offseason decisions but are now in great shape to rebound next year. QB situation? Fixed, at least for a year. Offensive line? About to get serious help with the 4th pick. Out-of-his-league head coach? Replaced by the overrated, but still better than Jim Zorn, Mike Shanahan. The odds of the Redskins passing the Eagles in the standings went up exponentially today.