By Zack Cimini

notjustagame23@gmail.com

Bouncing around as a veteran quarterback is common place. Endings seem premature in the athletes mind, and franchises are willing to take the gamble on declining skills. In the case of Donovan McNabb, no one really knows what he has left.

The Philadelphia Eagles basically traded him to move on and go with a younger talent in Kevin Kolb. Just like when he was drafted too booing Philadelphia fans, he exited as if he meant little to a franchise. It was just a few years before that he led the Eagles to their fourth NFC championship game under McNabb. They were a Kurt Warner drive away from going to another Super Bowl.

What happened last year as a Redskin was undeserving. McNabb gutted out many performances for a front office and coach that expressed their displeasure in McNabb. It was as if, Daniel Snyder was being over rode more and more as the season went on. No athlete is too tired to take a beating an entire game and not want to attempt a game winning drive. The fact that Rex Grossman took over the final few games for the Redskins was a true slap in the face move.

So McNabb is basically a free agent at this point with zero suitors because of the lockout. You have to believe that once the lockout is lifted, McNabb will be a highly sought after quarterback. Even though teams were able to stock pile youth with a high talent pool of quarterbacks in the draft, there are still many teams that need dire help.

Two teams that pop out at you are Minnesota and the Arizona Cardinals. Minnesota addressed their future quarterback hopes in Christian Ponder. Drafted as the number twelve pick, Ponder will be expected to jump in. How soon though? Do the Vikings want to try and recapture the same thing they did with Brett Favre? They’re talented enough to attempt to make a strong run with a veteran quarterback, and Adrian Peterson. It’s always tempting as a new head coach to perform now rather than later.

Arizona though could be the best option and most realistic. The Cardinals have discussed names of Marc Bulger and Kyle Orton more, but McNabb would seem to be the top selection amongst the three. Arizona’s year without Kurt last year was as bad as their pre-Jake Plummer quarterback shuffling days. Derek Anderson’s press conference rant, will join the ranks of Dennis Green’s in Cardinals fans YoutTube favorites.

Throwing out a lowly touted third day drafted quarterback in Jon Skelton, and also undrafted Max Hall last season, started to turn the career hard worker Larry Fitzgerald into a Randy Moss. You could see him giving up on routes and not into it, because he couldn’t trust the quarterback. He knew they couldn’t throw the tight throws or stick him deep with an accurate pass. Not going after a quarterback in the draft was one of the more puzzling moves of the NFL Draft.

If the Cardinals want to keep one of the best receivers in football they better go after a solid veteran quarterback. Who is currently throwing the ball to Fitzgerald in off-season workouts? Yes, that’d be Donovan McNabb. An athlete that has trained every off-season in Arizona and has developed a relationship with some of the Cardinals.

McNabb has loved Arizona since he came as a senior for the Syracuse Orangemen vs. Kansas State in the 1999 Fiesta Bowl. Everyone wants to say McNabb is too old, injury proned, and lacks the proper effort for a full football game. Quarterbacks are going to make mistakes. The success McNabb has had can’t be overlooked. Veteran quarterbacks such as Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are right up there in age with McNabb.

He has a solid two to three years left, and he will be seeking to land with a team that he can fully utilize those years. Arizona seems to be the best fit for that.. Their organization made the right move with a similar veteran quarterback that had been rode off, and spun it very close to a Super Bowl.

McNabb’s third uniform in three years should sport pure red and white, and occasional pure black.