Vikings sign QB Donovan McNabb for one year has 0 comments

Aug 7th 2011, 16:19 | FFN-Score: 60 points

It's been a precipitous fall for Donovan McNabb, the one-time franchise quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles who was traded to the Redskins after the 2009 season. Washington gave him a five-year, $70 million extension early in the 2010 campaign only to later bench him for Rex Grossman.

It gets worse: McNabb was eventually demoted to third-string behind Grossman and John Beck, who had played in all of four NFL games (all losses, by the way) since coming into the league in 2007.

No one was shocked when McNabb and the Skins parted ways in July; Washington shipped him to the Vikings, where he's the latest grizzled veteran quarterback to assume the starting duties. This time, though, Minnesota didn't lavish their old-timer under center with a huge contract. Just the opposite, in fact.

An NFL source tells the StarTribune.com's Judd Zulgad that McNabb received a one-year deal worth $5.05 million.

Or as PFT's Mike Florio put is Saturday: "That’s only $1 million more than the $4 million average of the two-year deal that former Vikings starter Tarvaris Jackson signed in Seattle, and it’s $11 million less than what the guy who ultimately replaced McNabb will earn in Philly this year."

According to Tom Pelissero of ESPN Radio the team included incentives that push the maximum value of the contract to $7.25 million.

Zulgad calls the deal a "win-win" for the Vikings because it means that if McNabb plays in 2011 like he did in 2010 Minnesota can let him walk. It also gives us some indication of what the Vikings' plans are for rookie quarterback Christian Ponder: he'll likely sit for this season and it will be his job to lose heading into 2012. And who knows -- depending on how things go, perhaps sooner.