Denver Considering Donovan McNabb?

Adam Schefter reported/tweeted the other day that three teams have gave the city of brotherly love a ring. These three teams called to inquire the status of each of their three quarterbacks. Schefter’s tweet is below.

Multiple teams have called Eagles to inquire about their three QBs. The conversation, and speculation, will heat up in early March.

Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Inquirer explained further (who recevied that that info from Sal Paolantonio) that those three teams were calling about the availability of the current starter, Donovan McNabb. Those three teams would be the Cleveland Browns, Buffalo Bills, and the Denver Broncos.

Adam Schefter says teams have asked the Birds about all three of their quarterbacks and three teams have called about Michael Vick. Sal Paolantonio added that three teams — Cleveland, Denver and Buffalo — have had multiple conversations with the Eagles about Donovan McNabb.

However Les Bowen continues to state that these conversations are ‘prelimary’ and that he can’t over emphasize that:

NOTHING IS ANYWHERE CLOSE TO HAPPENING

So Kyle Orton has that going for him.

The oft concussed Brian Westbrook was on a talk radio show, WGFX in Nashville, Tennessee. When asked about of his opinion regarding McNabb’s future in Philly, Westbrook reckons that the Syracuse alum isn’t going anywhere. Thanks to Sports Radio Interviews for the transcript.

“I think there is no question in my mind if Donovan will be back. After what he was able to do last year which he had a very good year of course. Everybody measures, a lot of fans measure by Super Bowls.

“If you look at this football team with Donovan and without Donovan I think you would be hard-pressed to say that there was better quarterback in the league than Donovan McNabb for Philadelphia Eagles.”

Yet another positive for Mr. Orton.

What exactly does Josh McDaniels have up his sleeve? If anyone knows how to stir up quarterback controversy it’s Coach McD. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about McNabb sporting the orange and blue. Brian Dawkins and Correll Buckhalter would love to have him though.

The Good

Below are Donovan McNabb’s 2009 stats.

If you munge all those numbers together McNabb posted a 92.9 quarterback rating. At his age he is still performing at a great level, and he has shown little to no signs of slowing down.

The Bad

Donovan McNabb has only started 15 or more games in a season only five times in his eleven year career. If you take away his rookie year, he has only finished out a full season only half of his career (5/10). Therefore, if the unthinkable happens and McNabb is sent to the Mile High City, Denver would be adding another injury prone Eagle. This veteran quarterback is exactly that, a veteran, at 33 Denver would just be upgrading band-aids. The cost of procuring McNabb would most-likely amount to a Brandon Marshall package or a high level draft pick(s). I don’t even want to consider an Elvis Dumervil situation.

The Reason

How did Donovan get to this point? Flashback to week one. McNabb’s ribs were broken during the week one win against Carolina. The following week the Eagles were blown out by the Saints with Kevin Kolb at the helm. Kolb had a mixed outing, he completed 60% of his passes for 391 yards and two touchdowns; however he ineptly threw three interceptions. The next week Kolb fared much better against the Chiefs, but the Chiefs are who they thought the were.

The Bottom Line

Kolb’s flashes of brilliance, youth, and his cheap price tag might give him the edge over McNabb, who represents nearly the opposite.

Speculation is just speculation, but it appears though that as fans we’re about to enter yet another offseason full of highs, lows, and throwbacks. What do you think of the McNabb possibility Bronco nation? Is the juice worth the squeeze?