One of the commenters on the Eagles quarterback situation, namely Mike Lombardi of the NFL Network has spent time in a number of NFL front offices.
Everybody else who has been running their mouths about the situation has zero experience, including myself.
Yesterday it showed up big time, when Lombardi brought up some key and previously unmentioned comments about who has control of whether Donovan McNabb would be traded or not.
Unlike everybody else, Lombardi said McNabb was the guy in control of his trade situation because he has only one-year left on his contract.
The former Eagles, Raiders and Browns player personnel executive said that McNabb can kill any trade offer he wants to by simply refusing to sign a contract extension.
The situation with McNabb is much like the one which existed when the Phillies traded for pitching ace Roy Halladay. Halladay had to agree to a contract extension before the Phils would agree to the trade.
The reason he was traded a year ago was because he refused to agree to a contract extension with any of the proposed teams.
According to Lombardi, there’s not a team in the NFL which will trade for McNabb before he agrees to a contract extension of two or three years, therefore it’s McNabb and not the Eagles who will decide when, if and to which team he is traded.
You may not agree with his reasoning and McNabb may still be traded but you must admit that Lombardi’s point makes sense.
