The talks of McNabb to St. Louis are 100 percent false.


All this talk of Donovan McNabb to St. Louis is ridiculous. ProFootballTalk.com seems to be the main culprit behind these rumors, and like most rumors they back it up with absolutely nothing.

No sources, no inside scoop, not even so much as a logical explanation as to why it would make sense. Not only that, but they're completely ignoring multiple reports that the Rams haven't even called the Eagles about any of their quarterbacks at this point.

The reality is that the move doesn't make sense for any of the three parties involved. McNabb is 33 years old and wants to win a ring -- he won't do that in St. Louis and everyone knows it. The Rams are in an obvious rebuilding mode, so why would they even want a quarterback McNabb's age?

And why would the Eagles move a quarterback of McNabb's caliber for the first pick in the second round? It's far below what McNabb is worth, and the Eagles would be foolish to even think about it.

The first pick in the second round (33rd overall) sounds like a good pick, but when you consider the fact that there's only about 20-25 players given a "first round grade" every year, anything past that essentially becomes a second round pick because the talent level no longer justifies the slotting of the pick.

If a team wants McNabb, it's going to have to not only be a first round pick, but a mid-level first round pick.

This is really just playing devil's advocate on my part since I don't believe that the Eagles are really looking to trade McNabb anyway, but they're certainly not going to trade him just for the sake of trading him.

If Big Red isn't blown off his chair by the offer, McNabb stays put.

The only teams McNabb would consider signing an extension with anyway are the Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings. Those are the only two teams with a realistic shot at the playoffs and the Super Bowl every season, and also need a quarterback.

Arizona would also make sense for McNabb because that's where he lives.

But the Eagles aren't ever going to allow that to happen. They're not going to give someone in their own conference the means to knock them off in the playoffs with their own quarterback.

So what we've learned (and really already knew but just like to ignore) is that McNabb will only sign with a good team, but the Eagles won't trade him to a good team. They want to trade him to a rebuilding team, but McNabb won't sign with a rebuilding team.

Or, in other words, McNabb isn't going anywhere.
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Would Rolle be a good fit in McDermott's defense?


Due to his large cap number, no one expects Antrel Rolle to be in Arizona next season. In fact, due to a $4 million roster bonus he's due to receive next week, he probably won't be there for that long.

Now I don't want to start a trend where we talk about the Birds pursuing every free safety who hits the market, but in this case they need to take a close look at Rolle. He's been a very good free safety since coming into the league, even on the poor defenses the Cardinals have had.

His size (6'0, 202) allows him to play around the box the same way Brian Dawkins used to, or drop back and play coverage like a traditional safety. He's very good at doing both, coming down with interceptions and wrapping up 70-80 solo tackles in each of the past two seasons.

Well-established 28-year old free safeties aren't hitting the market on a consistent basis, and with that being the case the Eagles have to at least reach out to Rolle and see what kind of numbers he'll want.

And there is where we run into a possible problem.

Rolle is going to be cut because of an $8 million base salary and $4 million roster bonus due next week. He knows this as well as the guys making the decision, but still has refused to take a pay cut.

It doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to be asking that much on the market, but it wouldn't be shocking for him to ask far more than what the Eagles -- or any other team -- is willing to pay. He might not understand that safeties just don't get the big money that corners get, and he could sit in free agency for a while before he drops his asking price.

As far as base salary goes, Adrian Wilson, Rolle's partner in the secondary, was the highest paid safety in the league with a base salary of $5.5 million (other than OJ Atogwe who was playing on the franchise tag).

That could be the reason Rolle is refusing to take a pay-cut, but either way, $5 million seems to be the ceiling for safeties.

With that in mind, a multi-year deal for Rolle at about $3.5-4 million per season with a decent amount of guaranteed money could bring him to Philly.

It would be a pleasant change of pace to once again have a free safety who can hit, and actually will hit somebody. The physical play from Quintin Demps, Sean Jones, or Macho Harris was nonexistent and it gave teams a sense of comfort when going over the middle.

With Rolle and Quintin Mikell back there, they will instantly make each other, and the entire defense, better.

The Birds could also keep Sheldon Brown at corner and turn their attention to more pressing issues on defense such as a pass-rushing left end and some linebackers.

Players who are cut before March 5th are fair game (as far as I know), so the Birds could get a jump-start and sign him before free agency kicks off, allowing themselves to target someone like Julius Peppers with all their resources on hand.
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Brandon Marshall scores on Michael Griffin.


Even though the Broncos remain adamant that Brandon Marshall will either be playing in the Mile High city or nowhere next year, it's fair to question them on the matter. If you'll recall, they said the same thing about a certain quarterback now residing in Chicago.

So while they say he won't, there is a chance that Marshall may get his wish. Evidently it's even more than a contract dispute at this point since Marshall believes he was not handled properly when he had an injury and now feels like he can't trust the organization.

This sounds similar to Kellen Winslow's situation in Cleveland. Winslow, in case you hadn't heard, now calls the Browns his "former" team.

While I'm sure that the Broncos have received a few calls about "Baby T.O.," one team who has not called is the Philadelphia Eagles. But why not?

Yes, they just spent a first round pick on a wide receiver, and he may turn out to be very good, but on the other hand, he might not. The point is that you just never know, and banking on potential will get you fired in the NFL.

Personally, I believe that the Eagles are just fine at wide receiver. I believed that even before they drafted Jeremy Maclin. However, whenever an opportunity arises to make your team better, you must at the very least look into it. And let's be honest, there is no doubt that Brandon Marshall would make the Eagles a better team.

What would it take to get the Broncos to part ways with Marshall? I'm not exactly sure. If it was me, I would offer a second round pick and perhaps some late-round picks as well to maybe get the ball rolling.

The Broncos would probably counter offer with a first and third, but may drop the picks down if the Eagles were to toss in a veteran player like Kevin Curtis, and perhaps a guy with some potential in Jason Avant.

This is in no way a call to trade either of those players, but the reality is that they are not of the same talent as Marshall.

While Marshall does bring some baggage along as far as off-the-field is concerned, the Eagles are usually pretty good about keeping something like that under control. And who knows, perhaps a change of scenery would straighten Marshall out right away.

Of course you could say this about nearly any team in the NFL. Even the receiver-heavy Cardinals would be wise to at least make a call and see where things stood.

Perhaps the Broncos and Cardinals would be satisfied to swap players? How would an Anquan Boldin-for-Brandon Marshall trade look to both parties? Probably rather intriguing and maybe a good move.

Marshall and Boldin are both unhappy where they are, they are both about the same talent level (you could argue for either one, which further proves that they're about the same), and are both scheduled to make about the same amount of money this year, with Boldin making a couple hundred thousand more than Marshall.

Also, the Cardinals don't want to see Boldin in the NFC, and the Broncos don't want to see Marshall in the AFC. This way, they wouldn't have to.

The money, however, would be a moot point because both players would likely receive new contracts with their new teams anyway.

That sounds like a win-win to me for the players and their respective teams.

But I digress.

The Eagles need to at least call Denver and see what it would take. The odds of anything materializing are slim, but as I said before, anything that can be done to make your team better should at least be explored.

Joe Banner & Co. need to get on the phones, and do some mile-high exploring.
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ESPN's John Clayton is reporting that the Ravens have offered the Cardinals a first-round pick and tight end Todd Heap for disgruntled wide receiver Anquan Boldin.

This may not be enough for the Cardinals who, while they have said they need a tight end, may not think Heap is worth the third-round compensation they're looking for in addition to a first rounder.

Let's not forget that the Cardinals are in no rush to move Boldin like the Bills were to move Jason Peters.

The Cards can sit tight and wait until their needs are met before they move Boldin, if at all.

The other side is that the Cardinals only have a little over $1 million in cap space, so a player involved with the trade may not catch their fancy, and even worse may just not be possible. They'll need cap space to sign all these new draft picks they're sure to pick up.

Clayton also reported that the Giants and Jets have also made a bid for Boldin. The Philadelphia Eagles however seem to be making no move for the receiver all of Philly-nation seems to covet.

This could mean they're not interested, or they're simply waiting to see what the going price is for Boldin. I'm inclined to put my money on the first scenario, but they've surprised me before.

This story is sure to get a huge bump this weekend at the Radio City Music Hall so stay tuned.
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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.
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