Donovan Comes To Town

He's not exactly Santa Claus, but the addition of Donovan McNabb to the Redskins could be a nice gift for the people of Washington.

I'll state first, for the record, that I have always hated McNabb. I know some of it is due to a divisional bias I have against all other NFC East teams and players, but I've come around to Tony Romo a little bit, so it can't all be attributed to his team affiliation.

I don't know, between Rush Limbaugh and Terrell Owens, McNabb always seemed to be on the whiny, pitied side of things. Your wide receiver said he'd rather have another quarterback? Boo hoo. An historically racist political pundit talked about how the media had made you into a better quarterback than you actually are because you're black? I'm unsympathetic. Winning a Super Bowl, or at least treating the last two minutes of the Super Bowl like you want to win, cures all these issues.

Moreover, I've generally been unimpressed by his passing ability. As my Eagle fan colleagues will attest to, McNabb seems to short-arm or underthrow more passes than anyone in football. He's able to avoid interceptions this way, but it's frustrating to watch drives stall because your quarterback threw the ball into the ground. I do think he's one of the best quarterback runners I've ever seen, though; he's quick, he's elusive, and has great vision. If the Redskins' offensive line doesn't improve, that skill set will be uniquely useful.

Overall, though, McNabb has a far better track record of success than Jason Campbell or Rex Grossman, both individually and as a team leader. And with the salary cap being a non-factor, I have no problem with Washington taking on McNabb's salary, especially when Bruce Allen indicated that he had the authority to spend as much money as he saw fit this offseason. So I like the move. I think it makes the Redskins much better in 2010.

I do think it (rightly) changes how they will approach the NFL draft this April, and it's in that regard that I think this move might be the most valuable. I'll explain that in tomorrow's post, where I discuss the Redskins' first round pick in depth. Stay tuned.