Because of the events of last October 31, many have the idea that Donovan McNabb's new five-year contract with the Washington Redskins was agreed to quickly because the Redskins wanted to right the wrong Mike Shanahan committed by pulling him. There's even a sense that the Redskins did this quickly to change the media conversation leading up to gameday, a particularly cynical point of view that would be crazy if this were any other team.
But as it turns out, this deal had been in the works for a long time. The Redskins have always been trying to give McNabb an extension since trading for him in April, and this is just the culmination of that process. In fact, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, this deal was on the table in October.
Parameters of Donovan McNabb's deal were agreed to in OCTOBER. He took same deal on table since then. No negotiations today. None.
That's an interesting admission. Clearly, the Redskins weren't phased by McNabb's benching back on October 31, and clearly, there was much less to discuss than originally anticipated. It begs the question of why so many media members and talking heads (us included) were so sure McNabb would leave after the end of the season.