Should the Philadelphia Eagles Keep Donovan McNabb?

Philadelphia sports fans know the pain of losing all too well.

While the Cubs and Red Sox got all the attention for their long championship droughts, teams from Philadelphia have always been on the back burner.

And that should be expected.

We can’t even be the best at losing.

Over the past two championship-less decades, we have certainly seen our fair share of great stars. But we haven’t seen those stars reach their full potential and finally claim the ultimate prize. One of the biggest reasons for the city’s sports malaise has been its inability to build a winning team around a star athlete.

The fact that Philadelphia could not make champions out of Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson, and Eric Lindros is criminal. Some of the best and most talented players to play their games could not find the success they deserved in Philadelphia. We groomed them, we loved them, and we lost them. They got us close, oh so close, but never all the way to the top.

We could soon see history repeat itself in the form of our beloved Eagles very soon. Over the past seven years, Eagles fans have actually become spoiled. Hard to believe that a team that has never won a Super Bowl and hasn’t hoisted an NFL Championship trophy since the Eisenhower administration could have spoiled its fans, but it’s true. We expect the Eagles to make the big game every year, and when they don’t we want them to blow it up.

For much of the frustrating 2007 season, Donovan McNabb received the lion’s share of the criticism from fans and talk radio. And much of that criticism was deserved.

After starting the ’06 season looking as good as ever, McNabb abruptly got hurt once again and has yet to fully recover. The fans expected his recovery to be immediate, as if starting over a season is like hitting the reset button on a video game. Injuries take time to heal and the length of a single off-season sometimes isn’t enough.

So Donovan and the team were booed as the Eagles stumbled through a mediocre season. The fans called for his head. The media called for a trade. And the Ravens called to see if he wanted to play for them.

CBS announcers Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon mused about the possibility of McNabb playing his last game for the Eagles prior to the beginning of the Eagles’ week 17 game against the Bills. Eulogizing the man before his demise, the announcers felt sure we were seeing the uninspired dénouement of a once great career. 

Over Super Bowl weekend, the Baltimore Ravens came calling for what they thought was an available Donovan McNabb. With former Eagles defensive backs coach John Harbaugh now handling the head coaching duties, the Ravens felt poised to add stability to their foundering team by adding the once dynamic talent. They even gave a generous offer. The Ravens offer of the eighth overall pick in April’s draft was surprising given a recent NFL precedent. Daunte Culpepper was sent packing for a second round pick, and All-pro Randy Moss was exchanged for a fourth rounder. The Eagles should have jumped at the chance for a top-ten pick, right?

If the Eagles had cut ties with McNabb that week, or if they choose to make a deal before or after the draft, they will be making a crucial mistake. While the eight overall pick would certainly help any team, the Eagles would be committing themselves to a rebuilding program centered around former University of Houston star Kevin Kolb.

Kolb is an untested, and

undeveloped rookie who would be in the spotlight of one of the most vicious media and fan networks in the country. Not only would Kolb’s metal be tested by the impatient sycophants who yearn for their team’s success, he would be playing in the same huddle as another ticking clock.

If McNabb were to leave we could easily look back on the past nine seasons of memories and division titles and place his name next to the Barkley and Iverson in the city’s recent sports history. A fantastic talent who was neither given the team, nor the time, to really flourish.

But another casualty from a divorce from McNabb would surely be the awe-inspiring talent of running back Brian Westbrook. A local project from Villanova University, Westbrook has not only emerged as an unlikely star in the NFL, but he may just be the best player in the league.

With running and cutting abilities reminiscent of some of the greats in history, Westbrook has the catching abilities of Ladanian Tomlinson, and the blocking abilities of Walter Payton. He has shown the skill to be one of the best returners in the game, and his team attitude has never been in question. Brian Westbrook has fulfilled every promise that Reggie Bush has failed to deliver. He is what Bush was supposed to be right now, and if the Eagles aren’t patient, they will be wasting one the best players the team has ever had.

At 31 years old, Donovan McNabb is certainly not the long-term answer for the Eagles. He will never deliver a string of championships the way Tom Brady or Joe Montana could, but he could certainly give us one. A dynasty would be great, but I’d certainly settle for one Super Bowl.

The window for the Eagles is closing, but it is not yet shut. When a team has a talent like Westbrook on offense, and an underrated defense keeping games close, the time to win is now. McNabb gives the Eagles their best shot at a Super Bowl and the fans deserve to give him at least one more shot at getting us there.