Cause and Effect of Donovan McNabb Trade to Washington

Late last week I read a little something about the possibility of Donovan McNabb being traded to the Washington Redskins.

I thought that was just crazy talk considering the trade would land McNabb in the same division, causing me to dismiss it right away. Then the Easter Bunny hopped into town and made it happen yesterday.

We can now quit speculating about the trade possibilities and discuss the actual impact of the trade on the teams and fans.  

If you like browsing the mock drafts you can expect a rush of updates.

Personally, I watched the hours I spent on an update yesterday morning go down the drain, as I had been toying with the idea of the Redskins taking Jimmy Clausen.

While I didn’t like the idea of spending time updating today, I do like the idea of going back to the No. 4 pick used on Oklahoma State offensive tackle Russell Okung. That was the smart pick in the first place for the Skins and the one we had in place for a couple months. The Mock will be updated later today.

Enough about how it impacted me, let’s look at some cause and effect of the trade…

The Washington Redskins made a major change to the franchise in one swoop. Assuming that McNabb agrees to an extension, they have a new face of the franchise for the next four to five years. This also sets them up to replace Chris Samuels on the line with Russell Okung.

Jason Campbell will likely be out since they signed Rex Grossman, who is capable of carrying the clipboard and playing the two games that McNabb is injured (not saying he will win those games). The teams that had inquired about McNabb may be interested in giving Campbell a place to start over.

The Philadelphia Eagles appear to be rebuilding. We know they have been struggling with the decision to go with the new kid over the guy who led the team to all those NFC title games and a Super Bowl appearance.

Fans appear ready for a change as well. Kevin Kolb is the new starter for the Eagles and Michael Vick is second string by default.

The move is also positive for the Eagles in the draft. In our mock draft that is revamped after the trade, it allows the Eagles to add three defensive players and an offensive lineman in the first three rounds.

Tell me this isn’t going to be good for football.

The NFC East rivalry games are already prime time darlings. Imagine the build up to the Redskins versus Eagles games in 2010. Look at the divisional games between the Packers and Vikings last season. At least the Packers showed the respect of trying to keep Bret Favre out of the division.

The Eagles are basically saying they are not worried about beating McNabb. Although, I guess it would be more disrespectful to send him to Oakland.

Let’s talk a little Fantasy Football.

Some dynasty owners just got an instant starter if they have been holding Kolb on their developmental squad…or even two starters if they had him on a roster backing up McNabb.

You have to think this will do something for the fantasy stock of Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas in Washington. How about the squad of running backs the Skins have been assembling? Looks kind of like an all fantasy squad from a few years ago. How will the addition of McNabb impact the running game?

We could go on and on. Any thoughts? Who wins in this trade?