Bills wanted McNabb, but the feeling wasn’t mutual

Donovan McNabb stood his ground against the Philadelphia Eagles for the second straight year. Now, the question is whether he’ll get his revenge.

After being told last month that the Eagles would not deal him to NFC East-rival Washington, McNabb essentially forced Philadelphia’s hand by refusing to talk with any of the other teams that had expressed interest in recent weeks. In the process, McNabb can now take out his simmering anger on the Eagles’ front office that essentially forced him out of a city where he had played his entire career.

McNabb, who is in the final year of his deal, made this happen by making it clear he wasn’t going anywhere else but Washington. When the Buffalo Bills expressed interest – and even were willing to give McNabb a contract extension – he passed on the offer. When the Oakland Raiders sniffed around and showed willingness to trade for the quarterback without an extension, McNabb indicated to the Eagles through his associates that he’d retire. (Yahoo Sports)

All you Bills fans can stop dreaming about seeing McNabb coming out of the tunnel on Sundays in Orchard Park. In all honestly, McNabb’s non-interest in the Bills shouldn’t be that big of a surprise. We all knew he didn’t want to come here. However, in the terms of analyzing cause and effect, here are four things that McNabb to the Redskins has showed me about the Buffalo Bills.

Look, we all know that I’ve been very vocal about my displeasure towards the Bills franchise this offseason. However, if the Bills really did try and go out of their way to offer McNabb a lucrative contract extension, then they should get credit for being aggressive in finding a quarterback.

Now, I’m not jumping on the Bills bandwagon and making it sound as if this regime represents the start of a new era. Buddy Nix has been on the job for only four months, and giving the Bills the benefit of the doubt was thrown out the window a while back. Now, I am a forgiving person. This sort of aggressiveness represents a (baby) step in the right direction.

If this report is true, being innovative like this may finally show the public that the Bills are finally serious about change (Even though we thought we saw this kind of bold statement with T.O. signing here last year). Well, at least they are trying.

No one, and I mean, no one wants to play for the Buffalo Bills. The only players who want to come here are ones who have failed physicals or are looking to rebuild their image. I swear, I wouldn’t put it past Jimmy Clausen to say he’s not coming to Buffalo if they choose him in the draft. I kid..sort of.

As for McNabb, you can’t exactly blame him for not wanting to come to the Bills. The team has been god awful for the last 10 years and their reputat
ion throughout the league for being a doormat is well chronicled. Why on earth would he want to take part in a rebuilding project at the age of 33?

As for the recruiting problems: People keep asking, “How are the Bills going to market this team to the fan base?” All due respect to my fellow Buffalonians, but f#$k the fans! Lets try and figure out a way to market this team to NFL players. Hell, without the players, what fans would want to enjoy this football team? I’m sure we all know what the key to both of those problems are…it’s called winning (and free beer at the stadium).

What would have happened if the Bills actually convinced Mike Shanahan or Bill Cowher to coach the team? Lets be honest here, besides the Redskins tradition, their football team hasn’t exactly been lighting the world on fire. Washington has only made the playoffs twice in the last ten years and have become a huge joke during Dan Snyder’s tenure as owner. They have gone through countless coaches, different playbacks and lots of cash.

Every year, the Redskins seem to win the offseason championship in NFL free agency, only to come up well short of even making a legit playoff run. Even with McNabb going to Skins, I still don’t think it’s a slam dunk that he’s going to do well there. Their wide receivers are average, their line play is abysmal, their running backs were awesome five years ago and they have an aging roster.

Besides their on the field issues, the Redskins can still offer McNabb a ton…as in money and a crack at the Eagles twice a year. However, I think the biggest caveat for McNabb is getting coached by an offensive genius, who has two Super Bowl rings on his resume. Hell, all of the experts on ESPN (Actually, Shanahan’s cronies) are comparing McNabb to John Elway. They were all talking about how Elway couldn’t win the big one until Shanahan showed up in Denver. As far as they were concerned, Shanahan represented the best in what D.C. had to offer.

Now, lets say Shanahan didn’t think the weather in Buffalo was that cold (Like that was the real reason) and decided to take the job here. Would that have made McNabb more interested in coming to WNY? Hmmm…Maybe.

Now, the Redskins would have probably hired Bill Cowher or a rising offensive coordinator for the job. So, more than likely, he would have picked the Redskins. Even still, I’m sure having an established coach in Buffalo, might have made McNabb’s decision a lot harder.

It looks more than ever that Jimmy Clausen is going to be there for the taking with the 9th pick of the draft. Like I’ve been saying all offseason, if the Bills think Clausen is a franchise quarterback, you draft him. Now, with McNabb in D.C., what is going to happen to Jason Campbell? It was only a month and a half ago that the rumors of Campbell to Buffalo were making its way around the campfire.

I know a lot of fans hate the thought of Campbell coming here, but if the quarterback class is as weak as a lot of the experts are saying, then why not give up a 4th or 5th round pick for Campbell. If he doesn’t pan out, well, you can draft one next year in a much richer quarterback class.

Don’t forget, Campbell almost passed for 4,000 yards and 20 touchdowns on a team that was 4-12; that lost both their starting left tackles and Chris Cooley for the season. All I’m saying is that Campbell to the Bills shouldn’t be as big of a “Scoff” as most fans are making it out to be.