Jeff Garcia Cut from Eagles Squad: What's Next for QB?

Well, the quarterback crisis in Philadelphia ended faster than usual.

The Eagles signed Michael Vick in the offseason, amid controversy. Starting quarterback Donovan McNabb goes down with broken ribs in week one against Carolina. The Eagles scramble to sign Jeff Garcia—who had been released from the Raiders earlier in the offseason.

At one point last week on Philly’s practice field, there were three quarterbacks who had started in a combined 12 Pro Bowls.

But now, with third-year pro Kevin Kolb proving that he can be a more-than-adequate backup to Donovan McNabb (at least in Andy Reid’s opinion), the Eagles cut Garcia on Tuesday to give him a chance to become a starting quarterback somewhere else.

Clearly, the Eagles’ roster move (they cut Garcia to add some linebacking depth, bringing back former Eagle Jeremiah Trotter to shore up the run defense) suggests that they feel confident in Kolb’s abilities if McNabb goes down again.

After being the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 300-plus yards in his first two starts, Kolb may have done enough to warrant the hype that had been building internally in the organization since the Eagles drafted him in 2007.

(Consider this writer unconvinced, but that’s another matter—entirely.)

The question should now move from the Eagles and focus on Garcia. Where does he go from here?

Here are three scenarios that I could see playing out for Garcia:

1. This one isn’t a stretch by any means of the imagination. The Raiders cut Garcia earlier this preseason. Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell—the 2007 No. 1 overall draft pick—is fresh off his second tumultuous game. "Tumultuous" actually doesn’t do Russell’s performance justice.

Let’s get it straight.

Russell has been so bad in the past two weeks that he’s threatening to set football back 20 years. He’s thrown for less than 100 yards both weeks. He was sacked more times in the second half on Sunday (three) than yards he threw for (one).

Why not bring Garcia back and see if you can generate any type of momentum in the passing game? At this point, do the Raiders really have anything left to lose?

2. The Seahawks actually might give Garcia his best chance of starting and winning in the upcoming weeks.

With Matt Hasselbeck sidelined from cracked ribs (the same cracked ribs that sidelined McNabb and led Garcia to Philly in the first place), and backup Seneca Wallace doing little to inspire confidence in the Seattle brass, the Seahawks could be looking for a veteran presence to give Hasselbeck as much time as he needs to heal.

The NFC West, as usual, is more-or-less putrid and potentially on its way to being the worst division in football once again.

The Rams are lifeless. The Cardinals are on life-support already after looking nothing like the Super Bowl team from last year.

Only the 49ers have shown any promise, and with an injury to star running back Frank Gore taking out their best player over the next three weeks, the Seahawks should look to strike now to narrow the Niners’ division lead.

Garcia throwing to T.J. Houshmanzadeh and Julius Jones might not inspire visions of offensive grandeur in the minds of NFL fans, but the Seahawks could certainly do worse.

They could remain stagnant, watch Hasselbeck rush back from injury only to hurt himself more seriously later in the season, and rue the day they let Garcia get away.

3. This one might be a bit of a stretch, given their roster moves today, but why not Garcia to the Dolphins?

Starter Chad Pennington just went down with a season-ending shoulder injury. The Dolphins just traded an undisclosed draft pick for the Kansas City Chiefs’ third-stringer, Tyler Thigpen, who managed to win all of one game while racking up decent stats in 11 games last year for the Chiefs.

Between Thigpen, current starter Chad Henne (who hasn’t started a game in his two-year NFL career), and rookie Pat White, the Dolphins quarterback committee has 11 combined NFL starts.

For an 0-3 team looking to right the ship, the Dolphins could sign Garcia for cheap, rely on their running game to get the wheels back on the team, and pray.

Otherwise, the youth movement officially starts for the Dolphins in Week Four—and all those fans hoping to return to Landshark Stadium for a playoff game will be viciously disappointed.

Besides, Garcia started in Tampa Bay last year, and it wasn’t all that long ago that the Bucs were 9-3 and looking like a playoff lock. A shaky defense (and Monte Kiffin’s departure) was all that kept Garcia out of the playoffs. Why not give him another shot in the state of Florida?

Other Possibilities

St. Louis Rams: unlikely, given how much they've put into developing Marc Bulger. But given the injuries on that team, they're one Bulger injury away from the season completely sinking, and Bulger did hurt his rotator cuff last week. Does Garcia provide an upgrade over Kyle Boller? (Duh.)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: interesting idea, given Garcia's history with the team and the fact he was their starter last season; unlikely, as coach Raheem Morris will likely spend the rest of the season developing young guns Josh Freeman and Josh Johnson.