NFL Trade Rumors: How Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb Will Dictate the Market

For the second summer in a row, Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb find their fates inextricably linked.

This time, however, they won't be starting out as teammates.

McNabb and Kolb are two of the hottest commodities on a frenetic trade market that is just heating up now that the four-and-a-half-month NFL lockout has finally been lifted.

The list of teams seeking signal-callers reads like a who's who of fringe playoff contenders, including, but certainly not limited to, the San Francisco 49ers, the Arizona Cardinals, the Minnesota Vikings, the Miami Dolphins and the Seattle Seahawks.

The list of viable candidates to fill those jobs is somewhat shorter than that, with Kolb and McNabb sitting at or near the top.

And, interestingly enough, where one of them goes could very well influence where the other ends up. Both are under contract with their current teams—Kolb with the Philadelphia Eagles and McNabb with the Washington Redskins—but both figure to be traded within the next week or so.

Kolb has become something of an expensive and expendable luxury for the Eagles with the stunning resurgence of Michael Vick, whom head coach Andy Reid slapped with the team's franchise tag prior to the lockout. Philly will no longer be able to afford Kolb long-term now that Vick will be making upwards of $20 million for the season.

The dearth of quality young quarterbacks has made the option of trading Kolb that much more attractive to the Eagles. Despite having only seven career starts in four seasons to his name, the 26-year-old Kolb is coveted highly for his skills and relative youth, compared to the likes of fellow available QB's Matt Hasselbeck (35) and Marc Bulger (34).

So much so, in fact, that the Cardinals have been rumored to have offered the Eagles a package including cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a draft pick for Kolb's services.

Arizona has also been floated as a potential destination for McNabb, whose lone year in the Beltway proved a disappointing one for him as well as head coach Mike Shanahan. McNabb was uneven in his first season outside of Philadelphia, to say the least, throwing for 3,377 yards, 14 touchdowns and 15 interceptions before being supplanted by former Chicago Bears wunderkind Rex Grossman.

That switch led to a rather public straining of ties between McNabb and Shanahan to the point where the coach would likely have to trade away his quarterback after giving up a second-round pick in the 2010 NFL draft and a third-round pick in this year's draft to get him.

McNabb now appears to be headed to the Minnesota Vikings for a sixth or seventh-round pick, though such a deal hinges on the ability of Vikings management to rework McNabb's current contract to better fit their situation. After all, Minnesota doesn't want to invest too much in McNabb after shocking the world by spending the 12th overall pick in the 2011 draft on Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder.

At this point, however, it's unclear as to whether or not playing in Minnesota is the best situation for McNabb, as the Vikings might still be cellar dwellers in the NFC North, assuming Detroit finally makes that great leap forward that everyone's been expecting.

The Cardinals play in the weakest division, but, again, appear to be in the lead for Kolb, who, ironically enough, was dislodged by Vick this year after essentially doing the same to McNabb last summer.

McNabb spent 11 needlessly tumultuous seasons in Philadelphia before Reid finally gave him a fresh start...which didn't turn out to be all that refreshing after all.

And Kolb, as previously mentioned, never quite took off with the Eagles, due in large part to a concussion sustained in Philly's season-opener against Green Bay that forced Kolb to sit helplessly and watch as Vick stole the show and, in turn, his starting gig.

So now, these two quarterbacks and former teammates find themselves firmly on the chopping block. Kolb has a job waiting for him in Arizona but is yet guaranteed to get there in time. Likewise, McNabb has a pretty good stab at starter's snaps for a year or two in Minnesota, with only a renegotiated deal standing between him and his third team in as many seasons.

Even if these deals get done, there's just something about this tale of two quarterbacks to suggest that there are more moves and more teams in store, that there may be another crossing of paths in the offing for Kolb and McNabb.

When and where? Only time and trades will tell.