Banner repeats: McNabb will be the Eagles QB next season

TO ALL YOU RUMOR mongers...........STFU :) thanks mkay LMAO! INDIANAPOLIS -- In case Eagles president Joe Banner didn't make himself clear the first dozen or so times: Donovan McNabb will be the Eagles quarterback next season, and quite possibly beyond. "That would be my expectation," Banner said Thursday at the Westin Hotel, where he's in town for the NFL scouting combine. "It [a quarterback] is the hardest thing in the league to find, and he's done a great job for us." Questions about the five-time Pro Bowl selection's job security were raised after the Eagles used a second-round draft pick on Houston quarterback Kevin Kolb last April. McNabb had been working vigorously to come back from surgery to repair a torn ACL the previous November, his second season-ending surgery in two years. Banner insisted the selection of Kolb was based solely on value at the position, a move similar to Atlanta's 2004 selection of quarterback Matt Schaub in the third round despite the Falcons' then-long-term investment in Pro Bowl quarterback Michael Vick. Will McNabb, who turns 32 in November, be the offensive engineer two years from now? "At some point, the question will answer itself, but clearly if Donovan is playing up to Donovan's level [it] is nothing you'd ever take the risk of changing," Banner said. "Our expectation is he'll be the guy. If it turns out you have too many [quarterbacks], they'll be plenty of teams calling you up wanting to somehow get the guy." McNabb's name has surfaced in trade rumors, starting with Baltimore the day of the Super Bowl. Eagles coach Andy Reid said he has spoken with McNabb, who is treating this offseason no differently than those in the past, alternating his time and workouts between Philadelphia and Arizona. "He's fine," Reid said. "He's working like crazy right now." Money talk Banner stood firm on the Eagles' stance against restructuring existing contracts, a hot topic with cornerback Lito Sheppard, running back Brian Westbrook and tight end L.J. Smith each in the news about their contract status. Banner and Reid questioned the origins of recent reports that Sheppard had asked to seek a trade. And Banner refuted a report that the team had approached Westbrook's agent, Fletcher Smith, about a new deal. "We've always been open to doing extensions and we've always had an absolute rule against doing renegotiations, and that's not going to change," Banner said. Citing Troy Vincent and Brian Dawkins, Banner noted the team's history of extending a veteran's second contract before it expired. "The philosophy we've always had -- which is we're open to doing extensions with players, which obviously includes up-front money -- we're still open to doing in appropriate situations," he said. "But as far as starting from scratch and pretending the contract [doesn't exist] and just trying to catch up to the market is not anything we're going to do." Smith still hasn't signed the franchise tag that would pay him $4.522 million for next season. Banner said he and Smith's agent, Brian Mackler, remain far apart on a long-term deal.