Usually, once a trade is made for any player, much less the caliber of Donovan McNabb, the first thing the player and his new team do is sit down and discuss a new contract. In McNabb’s case, it would be a contract extension because he’s in his final season.
However, it doesn’t look like the Redskins are in any rush to lock up McNabb long-term. In fact, they are still meeting with quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy, only two days after trading No. 5.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to draft him, of course. I think all 32 teams watched Matthew Stafford workout last year and probably 20 or so of them actually brought him in for a visit knowing the Lions would take him No. 1 overall.
So it doesn’t have to mean anything, it could just be a team covering its bases, but things get a bit more complicated when you add in what McNabb’s new coach, Mike Shanahan, had to say.
“I don’t know if it will happen, but I would say I’m hopeful or optimistic that a deal will get done,” Shanahan said. “Usually when you have a trade of this magnitude, teams want to get an extension done because of the commitment they’ve made to acquire the player. The trade was just consummated, and my first goal was to make sure the trade happened, so that’s where my focus has been.”
Just the fact that it’s a question should be a cause for concern in Washington. Giving up a second-round pick in 2010, and either a third or fourth-round pick in 2011 doesn’t seem so bad for a franchise quarterback, but when you could be giving up that pick in 2011 while said quarterback is signing a free-agent deal in Minnesota, it becomes a terrible move.
The Redskins are not a team built to win now, so keeping McNabb for only one season wouldn’t make the slightest bit of sense, even if they do draft a quarterback with the fourth pick in the draft.
Right now, the sense is that both teams got equal value for what was given up. However, if the Redskins let McNabb walk after 2010, it becomes one of the most lopsided trades in recent memory.