Hello Philly, Goodbye Philly...

After a couple months of speculation of whether they will or won't; the Philadelphia Eagles finally traded one of their quarterbacks. Not just any quarterback, but their franchise quarterback who led them to 5 NFC Championship games and 1 Super Bowl. Donovan McNabb has had an interesting relationship with the city of Philadelphia ever since Day 1 when he was drafted 2nd overall in the 1999 NFL Draft. He has battled his critics and injuries and been one of the best quarterbacks of the 2000s. Outside of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, no other quarterback was more reliable and solid during that 10 year span and his whole career at that. However, the move seemed not unlikely; the destination was a bit of shock to many. McNabb wasn't traded to Oakland or Buffalo or St. Louis, but Washington; a division rival in need of an upgrade at the position.

McNabb was sent to Washington in exchange for a pair of draft picks including the 37th overall or 2nd round pick. The Eagles didn't regard McNabb's value as worthy of a top pick or first round pick, but only a top 42 pick. As anyone would say, McNabb gracefully thanked Philadelphia for all memories and welcomed the new challenge of playing in the nation's capital. However, you cannot expect McNabb to not have revenge on his mind going into next year. As someone who has disliked the Philly fans for giving "the finger" so to speak to McNabb for his whole career, I see this as almost a perfect opportunity for them to experience life with McNabb. It would have been one thing to get rid of him thinking he was finished, but they think he is at the end of his best days so they sent him to a divisional rival. That will certainly be on McNabb's mind throughout the spring and summer and twice next year he will certainly look to prove the Eagles wrong.

Almost every year that McNabb was quarterback of the team, they won the NFC East. He never truly had enough weapons expect the year they got WR Terrell Owens and they got to the Super Bowl. Last year and possibly the next few years, there will be weapons capable of getting the Eagles finally over the hump, but now they lose the only stable thing they have had during their run of the last decade. The move also almost guarantees that QB Jason Campbell is on the outside moving forward and could be moved.

What did McNabb mean to the Eagles during his time? He is the Eagles' franchise leader in passing yards (32,873), completions (2,801), attempts (4,746), completion percentage (59.0), and touchdown passes (216). In addition for much of his career, McNabb was a dual threat and rushed for 3,249 yards and 28 scores. In games that McNabb started, the Eagles were 92-49-1 in the regular season and 9-7 in the postseason. However, despite all that, the drafting of Kevin Kolb a couple years back made McNabb a little more expendable as he got older. He has almost struggled with injuries during a few seasons and missed a season and a half due to them where the team was four games over .500.

Despite all the criticism, this man showed up whether he was 100% or not and gave the Eagles a great shot at winning a game that day. I expect the Eagles to take a step back and the Redskins to improve. Will either make the postseason after this move? It is hard to tell, but they are a lot closer now then they were before the move. Kevin Kolb can be a good quarterback, but when the game was on the line or you need a big play; more often than not McNabb rose up. Yes, he failed at bringing the city a Super Bowl, but so did Ron Jaworski and Randall Cunningham and neither was treated as badly as McNabb. Andy Reid is an excellent coach, but he would not have had as much success without McNabb. Well, Philadelphia has wanted this guy out for 11 years and they finally get their wish. We will see if it was the right choice, but expect McNabb to still be a top player for the next couple years. He showed no signs of slowing down unlike some other players this team has dumped over the years. McNabb said hello to the city in April 1999 and now in April 2010 he finally gets to say good riddance to the city until he returns wearing Redskin maroon and gold.