McNabb To Officially Retire As An Eagle

Donovan McNabb will formally announce his retirement as an Eagle on Monday, July 29th, the team announced. He and Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie will hold a press conference at the NovaCare Complex at 10 am.

McNabb is the team’s all-time leader in every major passing category, including attempts (4,746), completions (2,801), yards (32,873), and touchdowns (216). He led the team to 91 regular season and nine playoff wins over  11 years in Philadelphia.

The Eagles traded him to the Redskins after the 2009 season. In a recent interview with Philly Mag, he gave the impression that there are some lingering hard feelings.

“I never forgot what happened in Philadelphia. Those were great years. I would have loved to have had another couple years after that and just say ‘Thank you, I’m done.’ But it didn’t happen that way. I sold my house when I got traded. Never even touched foot in Philadelphia until I played there as a Washington Redskin. I hadn’t even been back to the facility until Brian Dawkins retired. It was a sour day for me. I was pissed off to go, but [Brian’s] like my brother. I went for my brother. I felt the same as Brian—you turned your back on me. You basically pointed the finger at me. Things haven’t been right in Philadelphia since [I left].”

According to McNabb, the team will have a retirement ceremony for him on September 19 when the Eagles host Andy Reid and the Chiefs.

What does he expect?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I remember being there with Brian for his press conference. I almost got emotional for him. I can’t promise you I won’t get emotional. Nobody has ever seen that side of me. To see Brian reflect on that, talk about our friendship—I was like, “[expletive], 11 years being here.” Then when they said nobody will ever wear number 20, which was well deserved, that is special. Then I heard they would do that for me.”

McNabb is expected to be at Eagles’ practice Sunday for Alumni Day.

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