Donovan McNabb has a big mouth and isn’t afraid to use it, even if it ruffles a couple feathers along the way.
McNabb was interviewed by Dan Levy of BillyPenn.com to talk about the current Philadelphia Eagles quarterback situation among other topics.
He said what the Eagles did at quarterback this offseason was dumb.
You know the whole thing about it which is funny to me? When people jumped on Sam Bradford because he was seeking a trade, I told people, man, I said ‘I’ll be honest with you, I don’t blame him.’ Think about this whole situation, and I had to explain it to people because they think he needed to come back and compete. I said even if he competes and they go 9-7 or 10-6 and he plays the whole year, it’s time for the young kid to step in and play.
If he’s not ready in year two, then that was dumb on the Eagles’ part.
I said it in a sense that, did I think that the Eagles should have brought Sam Bradford back? No, but then I said yes because to be honest with you I didn’t have Chase Daniel in the mix to even come to Philadelphia. I knew Andy liked Chase Daniel and he was a good backup for Alex Smith. So it’s funny because it’s the same situation that Doug came over to be the head coach in Philadelphia just like when Andy came over. Who did he bring over? He brought the backup quarterback that he was coaching in Doug Pederson over.
So now you’ve got Doug in the same situation with Chase Daniel and now you sign — which was dumb — you sign Sam Bradford to a multi-year deal and give him big money, then you trade picks to move up to No. 2 – that was dumb. I mean, nothing against Carson Wentz, but why would you do that? That’s just a bad business decision from the Philadelphia Eagles.
Chase Daniel is not a bad player. Chase Daniel can hold the fort down for 6-8-10 weeks and then if things aren’t going well you move a slow transition to Carson Wentz. Because the crowd…I’m going to tell you, the people of Philadelphia — and you know it — the people of Philadelphia they’re not going to call for Chase Daniel. They’re calling for Carson Wentz.
So when Sam Bradford struggles, we can talk about all we want to, if he struggles or the defense ain’t stopping nobody and the offense is ranked around 15th, you’re going to make a decision around week seven, week eight or week nine. If he can hold it until week 10 or week 11 it’s better for Carson Wentz to come in and finish up that season, because he will learn the speed of the game.
I disagree with McNabb’s thoughts on not blaming Bradford for seeking a trade.
Here’s how I look at it, Bradford needs to go prove himself and if he plays really well, he can go on and be a starter elsewhere next season. Go be like Drew Brees, who started for two years in San Diego before Philip Rivers took over in 2006. Brees then became a starter in New Orleans and won a Super Bowl. Bradford’s actions made him seem petty and insecure.
Sure, this is another bump in the road for Bradford’s tumultuous career. He’s most likely going to have to learn yet another playbook next season, but if he lights it up this year, maybe he can finally find some stability.
As for the Wentz trade, the Eagles were stuck at quarterback. The free-agency pool was grim and who knows if they were going to have this opportunity again of landing a potential franchise quarterback. The move by Howie Roseman was bold and daring and I didn’t think the price of landing Wentz was too astronomical.
Now Wentz needs to prove he can be a franchise guy.
McNabb gave his thoughts on Wentz and when to play him.
No matter how you look at this draft, I like the kid Jared Goff. I think he did a great job over at Cal, but to me the Pac-12 Conference in all sports is overrated. Unless you’re playing maybe baseball, it’s overrated. For Carson Wentz, he didn’t even come from a highly-rated Division I school, so he don’t know about the speed of the game. He don’t know about the blitzes he’ll see. Yeah he may be able to pick up on three-step or five-step drop, but you’re seeing the Pittsburgh Steelers defense, you’re seeing all these exquisite defenses that get to the quarterback, so you’ve gotta get the ball out of your hands, or you’ve gotta run.
It’s one or two as a rookie. You gotta get it out, or you better run. Or you’re going to get pounded.
I think for Philadelphia — for the fans — I think everybody needs to just step back and kind of watch it develop. If Sam comes out and stays healthy I think Sam can do a pretty decent job at least to hold the fort down and see where they’re at. If they’re .500 eight games in, do you make a decision then or do you just kind of let it ride out? I think for Doug, Doug is going to let it ride out at least until about Week 10 or Week 11 and then when the crowd is down and they’re not playing well, I think you get the crowd back by bringing in the young kid in.
How big of a deal is the speed of the game?
Joe Flacco went to an FCS school. He was a first round pick for the Baltimore Ravens in 2008 and went on start all 16 games and helped lead them to an AFC Championship Game appearance. Of course, the Ravens brought him along slowly and he tossed just 14 touchdowns compared to 12 interceptions, but we’re talking about a rookie FCS quarterback starting all 16 games for a Super Bowl contender.
The other most recent FCS first-round quarterback was Steve McNair, who started just six games over his first two years before becoming the full-time starter in 1997. But McNair didn’t sit out his entire 1995 rookie season, he did start a pair of games.
So how will Wentz be handled compared to Flacco and McNair?
The Ravens were in a different situation in 2008 than the Eagles are now because Baltimore’s other quarterback was Troy Smith, who never proved to be anything in the NFL. Bradford, meanwhile, does have a pedigree although a lackluster one for being a No. 1 overall pick. McNair didn’t start because the 1990s was not only an era which didn’t see rookie quarterbacks starting, but the Houston Oilers did have an established veteran quarterback on their roster by the name of Chris Chandler.
How many games Wentz starts is all obviously going to be contingent on how the Eagles fare. If they’re in playoff contention all year long, Wentz won’t see a snap, but once they’re out of the picture Wentz should get some playing time.
If Philly is 2-6 midway through the year, let the kid play.
If the Eagles are 4-8/5-7 after 12 games, let the kid play.
Whenever the Eagles are officially out of playoff contention, let the kid play.
And what about McNabb’s opinion on new head coach Doug Pederson?
The funny thing about it is you look all across the league and there is an experienced player almost at every position to help and show these young guys how to be professional; how to work; how to put in their time in order to get the good result.
Was Doug brought in to mentor me, so to speak? No. Absolutely not. Doug was brought in to run the offense and give me a chance to learn the offense and be under Andy Reid.
I don’t want to take anything away from Doug because it is unfair to Doug. Doug was the back-up quarterback to Brett Favre…and Doug was brought over to Philly because it was giving him an opportunity to start. Now how things went early on, we all know fans don’t dictate decisions that are made — was I thrown in there too early? I would say no, I would have loved to have been in there earlier, but it gave me a chance to get comfortable in the offense, get comfortable around the guys and be able to kind of watch myself make mistakes on film and correct them in the film room so that, come practice, I could change that.
With Doug now moving into this field now of a head coaching position, it’s a new arena, but it was also a new arena for Andy when he came over. I think Doug will be successful, but now this is a time for him to go ahead and draft and bring in the free agents that best suit his offense and defense and, really, get the good character guys like Andy did so that they can gel together in a 1-2 year span and all the sudden you see the Eagles going 10-6, 11-5, winning the NFC East, going to the NFC Championship. Whatever it may be. And then all the sudden people will give him his credit.
It’s just unfortunate for him right now because it’s the unknown. So of course they start to bring me up into it…that I couldn’t learn an offense. I learned a difficult offense at Syracuse which led to me learning a difficult offense with the West Coast offense that Andy had.
It’s funny, because they have to always throw my name in in Philly to make the story relevant, so to speak. Just talk about Doug and what he’s done so far at camp and now in this training camp and what to expect. Don’t bring me into it. That’s unfair to me, and it’s unfair to Doug.
Fair enough D-Mac, I’ll keep your name out my mouth on this one.
McNabb, who spent 18 days in jail and 90 on house arrest for a DUI in November, received a new media gig with ESPN Radio come the fall. He’ll be hosting a three-hour show with Brian Custner on Sunday nights, which begins on September 11th.
Adrian Fedkiw