Eagles Will Trade a QB, but Which One?

If the Eagles had received a good trade off for Michael Vick by now, they'd have traded him. They didn't want to pick up Vick's $1.5 million roster bonus, as they apparently will at 4 p.m. Tuesday, but ever since they put it in the contract, they knew there was a pretty good chance they'd have to. That's why they made it such a palatable number. The $1.5 million is an amount of money with which the Eagles are happy to part in exchange for the time they need to wait out the quarterback market and find the right deal (or deals) for whichever quarterback (or quarterbacks) they decide to trade.

The Eagles are going to get something good in exchange for a quarterback, and there are people in the league who still believe they could trade two from the group that includes Vick, Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb. In spite of the public protestations and back-channel story shoot-downs to the contrary, league sources say the Eagles have been calling teams to gauge interest in McNabb. But the same sources say the Eagles are gauging interest in all three quarterbacks, and that they don't believe even the Eagles know yet which of them they'll eventually deal.

These are questions free agency is unlikely to solve, since most of the league's QB-needy teams aren't likely to find any answers during the free-agency period. So the Eagles will continue to monitor the QB market right up until the draft and possibly beyond. The decision they make could ultimately come down to which of the teams in the market for a quarterback is willing to part with the most in return.

The St. Louis Rams, owners of the top pick in this year's draft, have made no secret of their determination to fix their quarterback problem this off-season. They could do that by selecting Sam Bradford with the first pick. But if Bradford isn't fully recovered from his shoulder surgery, or if the Rams decide they'd rather take their draft in a different direction, they could turn their attention to the Eagles. The Rams have interest in McNabb and Vick, and if they're willing to talk about including the No. 1 pick in their offer, they could probably get either one.

The Seattle Seahawks have two of the top 15 picks in this year's draft, which is the kind of thing that gets the attention of a team looking to deal. With Matt Hasselbeck still viable but getting old, the Seahawks could be interested in somebody like Kolb, a young player who's already had some development and some NFL experience and could be ready to step in as a full-time starter soon, if not immediately. Unlike McNabb and Vick, who are free agents after 2010, Kolb is a player you could keep and build around long-term. If Kolb were in this year's draft and available at the No. 6 pick, the Seahawks might well jump at him. Does that mean it makes sense to deal the No. 6 pick for him?

The Browns are also looking for quarterback help, and the way Cleveland has acted so far in free agency indicates a desire to make a splash and field a winning team somewhat soon. The Browns' new GM, Tom Heckert, came from Philadelphia and knows the personnel there well. Could Heckert and Mike Holmgren put together a good enough package to lure McNabb out of Philly? Might they decide Kolb is a better bet for the long-term than Brady Quinn is?

They need a quarterback in Buffalo, too, and really any kind will do. McNabb would bring a steady veteran presence to an offense that's had nothing but upheaval over the past year. Kolb could fit with the Bills in the same way he might with the Browns. And Vick is a big-name star (for reasons good and bad) who could get the Bills some attention and fire up their dwindling fan base, the way Terrell Owens did a year ago.

Vick may be the most fascinating case of the three, one NFL front office executive told me, because the market for him won't necessarily be limited to teams that need quarterbacks. Vick wants to be a starting quarterback and might not be happy if he goes to another situation in which he's not. But there are going to be NFL offensive coordinators out there who have visions of the kinds of creative, exciting plays they can run with Vick behind center, either full-time or occasionally, and some of those coordinators are going to be pushing their teams to make a push for him.

There's a chance the Eagles could keep all three of their quarterbacks, especially if the deals aren't to their liking, but Vick is the monkey wrench in that plan. He probably wouldn't be as quiet about his backup/bench/wildcat role in 2010 as he was in 2009. And paying him a $3.75 million salary on top of Tuesday's $1.5 million roster bonus to play only a handful of plays per game as he did this year isn't a great investment.

So the $1.5 million the Eagles are paying Vick on Tuesday afternoon is basically a fee that allows them to sit back and wait for the offers to improve, rather than take the best one on the table before they need to do anything. There is plenty of time for this to sort itself out. And with three quarterbacks who are interesting to other teams, the Eagles are in a position of strength in a seller's market.