A Philadelphia radio station is reporting that the Browns contacted the Eagles Tuesday night inquiring about the availability of quarterback Kevin Kolb.
Quarterback Kevin Kolb has lost his starting job with the Eagles. Could he be headed out of Philadelphia next? BEREA, Ohio -- Hours after Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid announced Michael Vick would be his starting quarterback going forward Tuesday night, the team received a call from Browns General Manager Tom Heckert about the availability of deposed starter Kevin Kolb, a radio station in Philadelphia reported.
WIP reported that the Eagles said Kolb was not available.
Then on Wednesday, Reid declined to guarantee that Kolb would be on the Eagles roster after the Oct. 19 trade deadline.
"I can’t predict anything down that far, nobody in this league can do that, that’s ridiculous," Reid said to Philadelphia media. "The future, we’ll just have to see."
Heckert was out of his office on a routine college scouting trip, said a club spokesman, and was not immediately available for comment.
A league source told The Plain Dealer there was nothing to the report.
Contacting a team about a trade happens all the time. But talking about it never does because it would violate league anti-tampering rules. So don’t expect Heckert to make a comment.
Here’s why trade conversation conceivably could continue:
• Heckert was the Eagles' GM when the team selected Kolb in the second round of the draft in 2007. Philadelphia sources said Heckert campaigned hard for Kolb in the draft room, but Reid had final say.
• Not only does Heckert have the connection to Philadelphia, Browns President Mike Holmgren and Reid are good friends from the days Reid worked on Holmgren’s coaching staff in Green Bay.
• The Browns explored trade talks with the Eagles in March when Holmgren decided to reconfigure the Browns’ quarterback depth chart. They asked about Kolb and Donovan McNabb. Holmgren said the price for both was too high — each involving the Browns’ No. 1 pick in 2010. McNabb eventually was traded to Washington for a second-round pick in 2010 and a conditional pick next year.
• By then, Holmgren had traded for Seneca Wallace and signed Jake Delhomme after Carolina released him. Now Delhomme is hobbled with an ankle injury, the extent of which the Browns have never disclosed. If the injury is serious enough to threaten Delhomme’s season, the Browns may want to re-start talks for Kolb.
• After the Eagles traded McNabb, they signed Kolb to a one-year contract extension through 2011, at a cost of a reported $10 million signing bonus. The Eagles had to pay the signing bonus. Kolb’s base salaries are $715,000 this year and $1.392 million next year.
• Vick’s contract is up after this year. So the Eagles will be in a similar position after the season as they were last spring, when McNabb’s contract was up. They have to commit to somebody. The Kolb extension obviously wasn’t a lasting commitment to him.