"Philly, You're On!"

Essentially, the Eagles and Redskins have made a bet.

The Eagles have said: "Go ahead, have McNabb. He's not that good."

The Redskins have said: "You are f'ing crazy! We'll take him. You're on!"

Now, we wait and find out who is right.

It's possible, that both sides "win" this bet. The Eagles may indeed go forth with new vigor under Kevin Kolb and win more, or even win it all. Or at the very least, win the same as they did under McNabb.

While at the same time, McNabb may have plenty left in the tank, to make the Redskins suddenly quite good, for a healthy 3-4 years going forward.

From my standpoint, this is a blockbuster move that I am strongly in favor of, yet I have limited expectations of the results.

Contradiction?

No, not really.

I look at it this way.

McNabb at 33 is NOT past his prime. He's IN his prime. Late prime, yes. But prime. He is poised - barring injury, of course - for a Kurt Warner, Brett Favre, Brad Johnson, Rich Gannon golden age of experience and sub-40 health.

McNabb instantly brings leadership to a squad that has been desperate for it from that position for years. Nothing against Jason Campbell as a person, but he never managed to swell up to the role that starting QB demands when it comes to leadership. You can say a good part of that is the dysfunction around him. True. But McNabb is an instant upgrade.

If McNabb plays well for 3 years, it'll be worth it. Period. He doesn't even need to raise his numbers significantly, just be in that 60+% completion range, with 2-to-1 TDs to INTs. Every year after that, is gravy. Three years is a long time.

Now that the Redskins have made a gamble with a 2nd round pick and a 3rd/4th that the QB position is SET for 3 years, they can go about fixing all the other things currently wrong with the team.

Three years from now, with a hopefully better team re-built underneath McNabb, if his production is slipping, you can pivot into the next option at QB. Or, if he's as good as ever, you make a Super Bowl run at age 37.

The Eagles have much more to lose.

In effect, McNabb's legacy is in Kolb's hands. If he plays great, then nobody weeps for #5. If he's a Scott Mitchell like flash in the pan, then they'll regret this for decades.

We once took Sonny Jurgensen off the Eagles hands. I hope this is a repeat.

But for the relative cost (we once paid two mid-round picks for the likes of TJ Duckett and Brandon Lloyd) it was a bet we just had to make.