Donovan's Contract Extension Is Not a Story But Donovan's Contract Extension Is Not a Story Is a Story

How many times will he do this?

As far back as 2008 there have been stories linking Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb to his former position coach and offensive coordinator Brad Childress in Minnesota, after the Vikings NFC Championship loss in January 2010 whereafter Brett Favre said he needed to step away from football and contemplate his future, Dono was linked again to Minnesota in trade rumors.

Now since the moment Brett Favre announced on 3 August to a Minnesota journalist that he was leaking a story that Brett Favre was set to retire and not play his 20th NFL season in 2010, a story that turned out to be all kinds of bullshit needed to fill Brett's giant ego- ah fuck it, Mike Florio, take it away:

We've been insisting that, before Favre returns, he needs to persuade everyone that he won't return. Just like he did last year.

Since that moment there has been an interesting undercurrent of speculation about Donovan McNabb and the Minnesota Vikings. The story goes like this:

Donovan has always wanted to play for Brad Childress; this of course is not just a player preference, like Brett Favre Dono would be attracted to the Vikings because they are a legitimate Super Bowl contender, behind Minnesota's line Brett had his best year ever and the Vikings were one game from the Super Bowl.

With no Brett in 2010 the Vikings would go back to mediocre behind Tarvaris Jackson and come 2011, if there is football at all, the clamor to get a solid quarterback into the Metrodome before the core of this Vikings team falls apart would become a shriek.

Meanwhile back in 2010 with Brett out of the way in Minnesota in 2011, Dono would hem and haw and fail to sign a longish term deal with the Redskins and that despite his protestations to the contrary, Dono would be one and done in Washington then off to Minnesota, a team that has become to addicted to old quarterbacks like me to Dame Judi Dench. Read about it here and in comments here by none other than our own lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery.

That Brett decided to come play football in 2010 does not necessarily foreclose these possibilities, unless Brett comes really close to a Super Bowl once again and is injury free I think he will actually retire after a round twenty years.

So if Dono does not sign a contract with the Redskins, it does not need to be because Brett is or is not with the Vikings; playing on a one year deal Dono could sign with whomever he wants, he could even sign for a year with the Jets then go join the Vikings in 2012 as a 35 year old :0

None of this isreally the point though, the question I have is, why has Donovan McNabb not signed a contract extension? The Redskins are a team that has traditionally been free with cash and had no problem convincing players contract terms were generous. From the standard form six year thirty million dollar contract that Chris Cooley and Brandon Lloyd and Adam Archuleta and London Fletcher all signed to the whopper hundred million dollar matzoh that Albert Hayneswoth signed, the Redskins are adept and comfortable playing at the top of the market.

There must be something going on, some reason Dono and the team are not moving on a deal. It is either Donovan that wants to wait and see or the team does. Given what I know about the team and how they like to pay players as if they are going to retire in Washington, it seems logical to me that the team would be ready to talk and this is all on Team Donovan for not making it happen.

BUT, what if this is new real actual general manager Bruce Allen insisting on not putting the cart in front of the horse? Perhaps testing Dono and his agents, letting Dono know he cannot walk all over the team the way Brett has in Minnesota. Maybe they are not close in negotiations. Maybe no one put an tasker in Bruce's calendar.

You will recall I have written before that Bruce Allen and head coach Mike are playing with house money this year, that there is nothing they can do to screw it up worse than it was when they got here and I think that also includes losing Donovan McNabb. If he is gone and we hear later that there was just no way to work out a deal that worked for the team economically I will cheer it on principle alone.

Another angle is the timing, Dono restructured his contract in Philadelphia in June of 2009, he arrived in Washington on that contract with one year, this season, remaining on it.

Somewhere, early after Dono's arrival in Washington, I read that the reason the team could not tear up Dono's contract and give him a new one was due to a league rule prohibiting two contract actions in the same year, that would have meant that Dono was ineligible for a new contract until June of this year, and so for all of April, May and at least part of June there was nothing that could happen by rule. For the third time I ask, if anyone out there has the rule or a citation please drop it in comments or send me an email.

The timing would matter if Dono was waiting around for Brett to decide whether he wanted to play again, then decide whether to sign an extension with Washington based on his early projections of options for 2011.

Donovan left a hero in Philadelphia, even if Eagles head coach Andy Reid is doing his best to sully the legacy, the fans there seem to realize it was the team that did Dono wrong and not vice versa. If Dono talks this big about wanting to retire a Redskin and then bolts to another team in the face of a fair offer from Washington there is are going to be a lot of Redskins fans pissed off at Donovan McNabb.

I bought your jersey Donovan, do not make me need another next year.



Donovan McNabb: Jonathan Newton / Washington Post from here.