The Trade heard 'Round the world

A week ago, the Philadelphia Eagles dropped quite the bombshell upon announcing they traded their former starting quarterback Donovan McNabb to the Washington Redskins for a 2nd round pick in the 2010 NFL draft and what will be a 3rd or 4th round pick in the 2011 draft.

The Eagles liked the potential they see in now-starting quarterback Kevin Kolb who is heading into his 4th season with the Eagles and played college ball for the University of Houston where he had an excellent career.

This trade most certainly raised eyebrows however as it can always be a risky move trading to teams within your division.

The Eagles reportedly had more attractive offers on the table for McNabb from both the Oakland Raiders and the Buffalo Bills, but in an effort to give back to the quarterback that has done so much for the Eagles franchise, they elected to listen when he said he wasn't interested in playing for either team and pulled the trigger when he decided Washington would be a suitable new home.

It is also reported that the Redskins were willing to part ways with the dominant force in the middle that is their defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth to land McNabb, but the Eagles denied, probably due to Haynesworth's monster $100 million contract.

How does this trade impact the Buffalo Bills off-season?

First and foremost, as previously stated the Bills were extremely interested in the possibility of landing Donovan. Now with him gone to Washington this opportunity obviously no longer exists.

They say when one door closes another one opens and that is certainly the case that this McNabb deal presents to the Bills. With McNabb the shoe-in to start for the Redskins, quarterback Jason Campbell could probably be traded for if the Bills wished to do so.

Campbell was the 25th overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft who can make all the throws and some say has struggled so much not due to his own lack of ability, but to the fact that every year he's played in the NFL he has had to learn a new offense due to the instability at the head coach and offensive coordinator position. If the Bills could bring him into Buffalo for a 3rd round pick or less it may be worth considering.

This trade also effects the Bills in another way as well. The Washington Redskins hold the 4th overall pick in this years NFL Draft. Originally, with a new head coach in town many thought Mike Shanahan would want to bring in his "own guy" to play quarterback for the Redskins. Now, with the quarterback position obviously filled up it is unlikely they would select either of the top quarterback prospects Sam Bradford or Jimmy Clauson, and makes the chance for them to grab top left tackle prospect Russell Okung a lot more likely.

This may disappoint many Bills fans, such as myself, that were hoping Okung may drop to the #9th pick as he would certainly be an immediate improvement to an offensive line that finished in the bottom half of the league in sacks allowed last season.

Some Bills fans on the other hand may be absolutely in love with this scenario however. With the Redskins not grabbing a quarterback, this nearly guarantees that at least 2nd rated quarterback prospect Jimmy Clausen will be available for the Bills to select on April 22nd if they choose to go that route.

Head coach Chan Gailey is on record saying he'd like to shore up the quarterback position before the draft. Now that it looks impossible to do so, it will be interesting to see if he veers from his intended path and grabs his hopeful quarterback of the future with his first pick as head coach of the Bills.

Regardless of how you look at it, with only 2 weeks before the NFL Draft kicks off this trade certainly throws a wrench in everybody's mock draft and completely changes some teams' draft strategy's. Expect teams looking for a left tackle to try to trade up and grab Tampa Bay's 3rd overall pick as they fear the Redskins would grab Okung 4th with their new signal caller running the show.

It will certainly be interesting to see how everything plays out.