Titans Deal McNair To Baltimore In Exchange for 4th-Round Pick

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The New York Sun

When the Tennessee Titans traded quarterback Steve McNair to the Baltimore Ravens yesterday, they accepted the meager reward of a fourth-round draft choice in exchange for one of the best players in the franchise’s history.

The Titans left themselves little choice but to get rid of McNair after taking quarterback Vince Young in the first round of this year’s draft. McNair’s contract would have cost $23 million against the Titans’ salary cap this season, an impossible figure for the Titans to afford given the several million dollars per year Young will command as the third overall pick.

“Obviously, the best situation would’ve been somehow to have been able to pay him what his market value was and keep him,” Bus Cook, McNair’s agent, told the Associated Press. “Without that, it’s best for everybody that Steve moves on.”

In Baltimore, McNair will make $12 million next season, a lot of money for a 33-year-old quarterback who has injured just about every part of his body during a distinguished 11-year career. For Baltimore, though, it’s a wise move. Substandard quarterback play has long plagued the Ravens, who have missed the playoffs in three of the past four seasons despite fielding one of the NFL’s best defenses.

McNair stayed healthy enough last season to start 14 games, and if he can play that many next year, there’s every reason to think he can lead Baltimore into the postseason. McNair may never regain his form from 2003, when he shared the league’s MVP award with Peyton Manning, but he’s still an above average NFL starter. Last year he completed 61.3% of his passes with 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions despite playing with one of the worst groups of receivers in the league.

In Baltimore, McNair will be reunited with his longtime favorite receiver, Derrick Mason, who spent the first eight years of his career catching McNair’s passes in Tennessee before signing with the Ravens last year as a free agent. Good news for Mason, but bad news for Kyle Boller, Baltimore’s 2003 first-round draft pick, who never developed in coach Brian Billick’s offense. Boller’s days as a starter are over, although Billick deserves some of the blame for Boller’s fate – Baltimore hired Billick because he had a reputation as a good offensive coach, but in seven years with the Ravens he has yet to construct a dangerous offense. With McNair now in the fold, 2006 might be Billick’s last chance.

Having lost their franchise quarterback, the Titans will initially give the starting job to Billy Volek, who has started 10 games in the last three years when McNair was injured. But Volek is just a placeholder for Young, the Texas quarterback who is more revered for his running ability than for his passing prowess and reminds many of a youthful McNair. Titans coach Jeff Fisher gave McNair plenty of time to learn the professional offense by keeping him on the sidelines for most of his first two seasons before making him a full-time starter in his third. He is expected to take the same approach with Young.

But there’s one group of people hoping Young will be the Titans’ starter by midseason: NBC executives. Baltimore will play at Tennessee on November 12, which happens to be the first day of the NFL’s new plan to move one marquee game from Sunday afternoon to prime time Sunday night on NBC. The league and the network couldn’t have scripted a better scenario than McNair returning to Tennessee and squaring off against his heir apparent.

Mr. Smith is a regular writer for FootballOutsiders.com.


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