As the Donovan McNabb derby quietly continues to churn, the folks at TMZ report that McNabb doesn’t want to play for the Raiders.
Um. Who does?
Per the report, a source close to McNabb says he would “refuse the trade.”
Um. He can’t.
Just ask Richard Seymour. Does anyone really think that his decision to wait six days to show up after being shipped to Oakland had anything to do with anything other than Seymour not wanting to play for the Raiders -- and ultimately realizing he had no other options? Sure, Seymour eventually said all the right things, but we tend to give equal (if not more) weight to actions.
McNabb has no choice, either. He can try to make the Raiders not want him. He can try to lobby the Eagles to keep him. In the end, however, McNabb has two possible paths -- play for the team that holds his rights for 2010 and get paid, or don’t play and not get paid.
So what would happen after 2010? This gets back to the point we made over the weekend. The franchise tag may not be available in 2011, given the precise (and somewhat vague) language of the labor agreement. If it’s available, the Raiders would have to choose between Seymour and McNabb.
Then there’s the reality that the Eagles may be inclined to take a little less from the Raiders then they’d take from a “contending” team, since the worst-case scenario for the Eagles would be to see McNabb go to a franchise that has a chance to win a Super Bowl, and then to see McNabb accomplish that which he couldn’t do in 11 years in Philly.
Bottom line? McNabb has no real say in this matter. Sure, he can try to scare the Raiders away. But despite their on-field struggles over the past several years, the Raiders are smart enough to know that McNabb, if push comes to shove, will show up and play.