Having already guest spotted on both ESPN and the NFL Network in the last few off-seasons, Donavan McNabb might be headed for one of the quickest athlete-to-analsyst turnarounds since Michael Strahan and, most recently, Shaquille O'Neal. The key to McNabb's on-air success: giving the people what they want.
And at the moment, you can't give them enough Tim Tebow.
In a conversation with Deion Sanders and the rest of the NFL Network studio crew, the currently unsigned McNabb weighed in on Tebow's rookie season, ultimately concluding that the the latter's limited passing attempts will not secure him a future as a starting quarterback in the NFL.
"For Denver head coach John Fox, the dilemma is going to come back to what do you do in the draft?" McNabb said. "Do you build around him, or do you look to add support just in case something happens to Tim Tebow?"
"You obviously have to draft a guy who can run that same type of offense. We've talked about the receivers and the weapons that he may be lacking, but at some point you have to develop him into a passing quarterback. ... He completed 10 passes averaging 30 yards per reception. You're not going to win many games like that."
Beyond the long-term concerns of building an offense around such an atypical, potentially option-oriented attack, there exists the concern that Tebow lacks the tools to run conventional passing scheme should Fox and team president John Elway decide to proceed in that fashion.
Cutting right through McNabb's prolonged critique to get to the bottom line, the aforementioned Sanders ultimately pressed, "If you complete nine to 10 passes, you're saying you don't have a job."
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"You will not be a starting quarterback," McNabb replied, before ultimately crediting the Denver defense, special teams and rushing attack for the team's success this season.
As for his own performance for the Minnesota Vikings in 2011, Donavan displayed some his trademark passive-aggression, drawing a line between quarterbacks who are judged based on their record and those who are judged on their statistics. In McNabb's case, at least as he tells it, he appears to come out on the losing end of both categories.
"The very first game I was 7 of 15 for 35 yards and we were winning 17-7," McNabb said. "We didn't throw the ball downfield. People said 'He's lost a step.' And then all of a sudden, I complete 65 percent or more in other games and we have a 21-point lead and we lose the game. I don't have a job."
Don't fret Philadelphia, with McNabb in line for a national studio job, he won't be leaving your television any time soon.