Nearly a decade after his career in this city ended, Donovan McNabb is still making waves in Philadelphia.
The former Eagles quarterback posted a series of tweets Monday afternoon to clarify comments he made about current Eagles starter Carson Wentz that weren’t received well by Wentz’s teammates or the fan base.
“For those of you who misread, didn’t understand, were confused or just didn’t like my comments let me clarify it for you,” McNabb wrote. “Let me start by saying there’s no beef,riff or ill-will toward @cj_wentz or the @Eagles . My comments were strictly based off of experience and understanding Of how The Business of football works. You are consistently evaluated everyday, every game and if you are reliable and or healthy enough to play. I know at times as players and fans it can be confusing to move on from a beloved player but due to the business of health And trust tough decisions are usually made. Maybe people just didn’t like it because it’s coming from me or I answered a question from one of the talents on the radio the way you didn’t agree with. If that’s how you feel I’m sorry you feel that way. It’s the nature of the game.”
That’s kind of a lot. Let’s backtrack.
McNabb appeared on The Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio over the weekend, and he gave an answer that was tailor made for the headlines.
“To you, what does Carson Wentz have to prove this year as the quarterback of the Eagles?” Gelb asked.
“I think in the next two years or so, he needs to find a way to get out of the second round of the playoffs,” McNabb responded, as transcribed by Philly.com. "What Nick Foles was able to do, take them to a Super Bowl and then possibly take them back to the NFC Championship proves that, hey, some people can get into that offense and be very successful. [Wentz] hasn’t been healthy. He hasn’t really proven to me, besides the year before he got hurt, in his first year, of really the MVP candidate. He needs to get back to that mode.
“I think, personally, if he can’t get out of the second round in the next two, maybe three, years, but really two years, to be honest with you. If he can’t get out of the second round, they should look to possibly draft another quarterback because you just don’t know about his durability. Staying healthy is very key in this league. The team only goes as far as their quarterback takes them. And they put so many eggs in the basket with Carson Wentz and he has to prove that in the next two years.”
You can hear McNabb’s whole answer below, with the question on Wentz starting around the 12:30 mark:
The comments were not that well-received in Philadelphia. Right tackle Lane Johnson, an always vocal presence for the Eagles, tweeted a series of snake emojis at McNabb and added, “and you wonder why nobody respects you when you come back!!!!”
Harsh.
Johnson expanded on it, too. He called in to Paul Jolovitz’s show on SportsRadio 94WIP on Sunday night to explain his tweet.
“This is what I meant — every training camp we have all of these ex-players come and shake our hands, wish us good luck,” Johnson said, as transcribed by WIP’s Eliot Shorr-Parks. “Then, they just go out and just talk hate. I feel there is a lot of envy, jealousy, and I see a lot of fakery. It isn’t just me — a lot of other teammates see it too. You would think the best quarterback in franchise history would try to build up a young man that looks up to him instead of always criticizing him, critiquing him and wishing he would fail so he could be the missing link and feel better himself. That is what I don’t like," Johnson said. "I’m not a guy that thinks I have it all figured out, I have many problems as well, but I get tired of all the fakery to be honest with you.”
Johnson returned to Twitter on Monday to display even more support:
McNabb remains one of the most successful quarterbacks in Eagles history despite never winning a Super Bowl. He led the Eagles to four straight NFC Championship Games and an appearance in Super Bowl XXXIV. He made six Pro Bowls and holds Eagles records for wins (92), completions (2,801), attempts (4,746), yards (32,873) and touchdowns (216).
But he hasn’t remained a popular presence in Philadelphia since the team traded him in 2010 and his career ended late in the 2011 season.
“I don’t think (McNabb) wants (Wentz) to outsucceed him," Johnson said on the radio. "I felt like a lot of players, even when we were making our Super Bowl (run) didn’t want us to win. That is just how it is. That’s how the world works. People can put on a good show, a good face, but the eyes never lie. I see it, a lot of other teammates see it. Honestly it is part of the business, but these guys say what they want, but then when an athlete voices his opinion, we’re the bad ones. We’re humans too. It’s not like we are just entertainment on Sundays and robots for everyone’s entertainment. It is what we do, it’s what we love, but some guy are scared to speak their mind because of they are scared of the criticism, scared of the backlash, afraid of getting thrown in the media in a bad light. The thing about my NFL career is I have seen the best and I have seen the worst. I feel like I have a lot of perspective other people don’t have.”
You can listen to Johnson’s comments here:
Others have piled on McNabb, too. Former Eagles wide receiver Freddie Mitchell tweeted that McNabb “screwed my whole NFL career up” and “Love that people are seeing the real now.” McNabb’s mentions on Twitter were filled with Eagles fans angry at the former star quarterback.
McNabb has been working as an analyst for a couple years, and his comments seem within the realm of something an analyst might say. These thoughts from another analyst might not grab too many headlines. There was some chatter about the Eagles keeping Foles over Wentz for the long-term, and it didn’t get too much burn. But a former Eagles quarterback talking about another former Eagles quarterback works in another context. And that’s where things get messy.
McNabb, for his part, has been responding to critics with a series of GIFs on Twitter, including the following:
This feels like something where there are no winners.
Philadelphia Eagles on PennLive
Daniel Gallen covers the Philadelphia Eagles for PennLive. He can be reached at dgallen@pennlive.com. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Follow PennLive’s Philadelphia Eagles coverage on Facebook and YouTube.
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