Brad Childress loves old Eagles, so it’s only natural that he should be asked about any Philly guys who become available.
These days, there are two long-time Eagles whose names are out there: Brian Westbrook and Donovan McNabb.
Westbrook, being a free agent, can be had by anyone willing to pay him. Unfortunately for the former Pro Bowler, the market for his services seems drier than the Mojave.
Judging by Childress’ remarks, the Vikings do not view Westbrook as a top target either.
“I don’t know if we’re far enough down the free-agent trail here now,” Chilly said when asked whether there was interest in Westbrook. “He’s certainly a guy that’s on our board and on our list, as are others. Is there interest? Not right this second. Do I know of him and his skills and abilities? Absolutely. And I have a lot of admiration for what he has been able to do.”
Translation: Brian Westbrook, being concussion-prone, would only be considered as a last resort.
Then there’s Donovan McNabb who, thanks to Andy Reid‘s possibly overly-candid remarks at the owners’ meetings, is assumed by everyone to be on his way out of Philadelphia via trade.
Speculation is centered firmly around Arizona, Buffalo and – sorry Donovan – Oakland. The Vikings are not really in that mix, but that won’t stop people from bringing McNabb’s name up to Chilly.
Chilly’s response to a question about whether Donovan is on the Vikings’ radar was pretty succinct:
“Not as of right now.” Then Chilly added, “I’m not going to tell you that we won’t add another quarterback to our roster or another two quarterbacks to our roster depending on which quarterback shows up and which doesn’t. Or which couple or three show up and which don’t. That’s all down-the-road stuff.”
Translation: If Brett Favre wants to play, he’s our guy. If not, we’ve got Tarvaris Jackson sitting there with a third-round tender on him and no team wanting to sign him. So we’re pretty sure Tarvaris will be there as a last-second contingency if Brett happens not to get the itch.
I wonder, though, what Childress’ feeling about McNabb would be if Brett called him tomorrow and said he was hanging it up?
I’m guessing the Vikes would be on the phone to Philly in about four seconds flat. But, since Brett is 100% coming back next year, this is all moot.