Saturday, January 8, 2011

McNabb’s agent, Mike Shanahan hope to meet soon


The biggest big-picture soap opera of the 2011 offseason relates to the labor situation.   The biggest localized controversy of the 2011 offseason arises from the future of quarterback Donovan McNabb in Washington.
Jason Reid of the Washington Post reports that McNabb’s agent and McNabb’s head coach plan to meet soon to discuss the situation.
The facts are simple.  The Redskins own McNabb a $10 million option bonus the day after the 2011 regular-season opener.  McNabb has said he’d like to return, and coach Mike Shanahan has said he’d welcome McNabb back, as a backup.
Under those circumstances, McNabb would like to be released sooner rather than later.  But if Shanahan decides that McNabb has trade value and that the offers received don’t match that value, Shanahan can opt to be obstinate, holding out for what Shanahan has decided that McNabb would be worth to another team, even if Shanahan has decided that, in Washington, McNabb is worth nothing.
That’s a recipe for a Haynesworth-style impasse.  The difference, however, arises from the option bonus.  Eventually, Shanahan will have to cut McNabb if the Redskins can’t trade him, or pay him $10 million.  Moreover, the trade value most likely will drop as the offseason progresses, barring a preseason ACL tear by a starting quarterback elsewhere.
Then there’s the reality that there may be no offseason at all, given the labor situation.  And so unless Shanahan is willing to cut McNabb now, McNabb would remain on the roster at least until the 2011 league year begins, at which time the trade market would open.  The gap between the launch of the 2011 league year and the first regular-season game will go a long way toward determining whether the Redskins can reclaim one of the picks that were sent to the Eagles for McNabb.

source:  PFT.com
author:  Mike Florio

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