It’s Easter Sunday. The last day of a fairly quiet and slow four-day stretch of NFL news. Nothing of any significance will happen today. Nothing at all.
Unless it does.
On Easter Sunday in 2010, something happened. The Eagles completed a stunning trade of quarterback Donovan McNabb to Washington. It was a move no one saw coming. Only three days earlier, then-Eagles coach Andy Reid told reporters that McNabb would remain the team’s starting quarterback.
Instead, Kevin Kolb became QB1 in Philly, before Mike Vick had a chance to take over. He became the NFL’s 2010 comeback player of the year -- and he set himself up for a five-year, $100 million deal (the deal was far less rich than advertised).
It was viewed as a major risk for the Eagles to move their 11-year veteran to a division rival. And things seemed to be OK at first, with Washington and McNabb starting 2-2, fueled by a Week One win over the Cowboys and a Week Four victory over McNabb’s former team.
Things didn’t go well after that, even after McNabb got a new contract (which, like Vick’s eventual new deal, was far less rich than advertised). Not long after that, McNabb was dropped to third on the depth chart. After one year in Washington, he was unloaded to the Vikings, where he went 1-5 before being benched for rookie Christian Ponder.
McNabb later was cut in the hopes of landing elsewhere during the 2011 season. He never did.
So will there be another stunner today? Probably not. But the McNabb deal is a reminder that, no matter what any coach, G.M., or owner says, there’s always a chance that something far different will happen.