His agent had been trying to reach him, to tell him how his employer had changed, that the Eagles had traded him to Washington for the 37th pick of the 2010 NFL draft and either a third- or fourth-round draft choice in 2011. McNabb's father woke him to tell him Smith was on the phone.
"It was a short conversation. . . . Because he was waking up out of sleep, there was probably a little bit of shock," McNabb's agent said. "And probably relief. At the end of the day, he wanted to play football."
With the deal, the Eagles didn't get the first-round pick they'd hoped for. But they'd changed quarterbacks without any blood being spilled, they ended up with a draft choice they used on a safety who will be expected to fill the hole left by Brian Dawkins, and they certainly hadn't been risk-averse, dealing McNabb to a division rival.
Everyone was satisfied. The owner who calls for risks actually got one. The coach got the chance to start over with a new quarterback. The new general manager was assured of a new era at the beginning of his watch. And the team president got just what he wanted, as usual.
"Listen, I don't think anybody's made more of a risky - time will tell, smart or not - but I don't think anybody's made much more of a risky move than trading Donovan McNabb and switching to Kevin Kolb," Banner said, sitting in his office in early June. "To take the chance of being wrong about that says a lot about the organization. We've got to be right or we deserve a lot of criticism, and we'll get it. Just to be willing to take that risk I think says a lot about the personality of the organization."
Asked if he was nervous, the owner of the Eagles chuckled.
