In my previous article, I had said that this trade does not necessarily mean the Eagles are out of the running for Anquan Boldin.

It would appear as though that statement was not unfounded.

According to PFT.com:

“We’re always looking for players that we think can make us better,” president Joe Banner said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I think we’ve proven many times that we’d be willing to do what it takes, whether it be a trade or do something with somebody’s contract in order to get them here.”

Seemingly going against their instincts, the Eagles may actually be considering going into the 2009 NFL draft without a first-round pick. Or a third and fourth for that matter.

“There are teams that start the year with only one first-round draft pick and they’ve traded them,” Banner said. “If we made another trade with a first-round draft pick, we’d just be in the same position as them. I think we’ll do whatever we evaluate to be the best move with any of the available players... Some of the evaluation is about the quality of what we have at certain positions.”

This would appear to mean the Eagles are still batting around the idea of making an offer for the disgruntled Pro Bowl receiver out in the desert.

If the Eagles were ever going to trade away two first round picks in the same year, why not for a 27-year old Pro Bowl left tackle, who can be a mainstay at the position for (based on the Eagles track record) about another seven years at least, and a 28-year old Pro Bowl wide receiver who really could play for a very long time.

With the body and presence that Boldin has, would anyone be surprised to see him play as long as say, Jerry Rice? He's a big guy and they definitely have a longer NFL shelf-life for the wide receiver position.

Now the other side of this beautiful coin is the dirty, ugly side that's rusted and covered in dirt.

The Eagles could simply be blowing smoke in order to try and drive up the price for the Giants to acquire him. This could be nothing more than trying to get the Giants into a phantom bidding-war for Boldin.

Unfortunately, that seems more likely.

However if the Eagles were to miss out on Boldin, there's an obvious solution staring them in the face.

Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson.

It's perfect. All they need to do is get Jeff Lurie on the phone with Mike Brown and convince him to part ways with Johnson (yes, Johnson. I refuse to call him Chad Ocho Cinco).

Considering Brown is the only one who wants to keep him around, if they can get him to change his stance the Bengals would all but give him away.

Apparently word is that some players have said, "If (Johnson) is traded, I'll drive him to the airport."

Well, great. He has a ride to board his plane to Philly.

And frankly, Johnson and McNabb would just mesh better than he would with Boldin. That's not to say that Boldin and McNabb wouldn't get along, I'm sure they'd be the best of friends. But Johnson likes to goof around and have fun, and so does McNabb.

Johnson has some famous antics like the H.O.F. jacket, proposing to the cheerleader and all of the other fun stuff.

McNabb does have his own though. Just in the playoffs alone the man pretended to pick off Tavaris Jackson on the last play of the game, of course everyone remembers his phantom phone call I can only assume went to the coaches' box, and there's always the Michael Jackson touchdown dance.

They've even had their moments together, such as the well-known pre-game warmup where Johnson got in line with the Eagles' receivers and caught a pass from McNabb, who was more than happy to go along with the harmless (yes people, everything is harmless) antics.

On the business side of it, the Bengals could probably be persuaded to accept a third-round pick for Johnson, and maybe a conditional seventh in 2010. At the very most, they'd want a straight-up second round pick.

There's no way the Bengals are delusional enough to ask for a first-round pick for a 31-year old receiver when players like T.O. and Randy Moss were traded for mid-round picks at age 30.

For you naysayers about Chad Johnson, let's not forget how poorly Moss played in Oakland when he wasn't happy. Then he gets out, goes to the Pats, and literally breaks record.

It's worth a try.