Vikings acquire QB McNabb from Redskins

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. - The Minnesota Vikings have acquired quarterback Donovan McNabb from the Washington Redskins in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick.

A person with knowledge of the transaction confirmed the deal to The Associated Press on Wednesday night. The person requested anonymity because McNabb has yet to officially sign his restructured contract.

The deal gives the Vikings a veteran quarterback who will play until first-round draft choice Christian Ponder is ready to take over. The deal also includes a conditional sixth-round pick in 2013.

ESPN first reported that the deal was completed.

Ponder tweets that he welcomes McNabb to the team and looks forward to learning from him. But he also says he still plans on fighting for the starting job in Week 1.

"Excited to have McNabb join," Ponder wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning, perhaps jumping the gun just a little bit. "Will learn a lot from a Pro Bowler. But that doesn't mean I'm not still fighting to start week 1!"

The trade ends a tumultuous one-year run in Washington for McNabb. The 12-year veteran was benched twice last season and threw 14 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 13 games. He completed 58 percent of his passes for 3,377 yards, and his agent Fletcher Smith sparred publicly with head coach Mike Shanahan and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.

Some Redskins players had already begun treating McNabb's departure as a foregone conclusion. The writing has been on the wall for some time in Washington, and news of the discussions with the Vikings only served to validate that feeling.

"You see a guy that's been a Pro Bowler six times," linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said. "He was going to come in and really help us win more games, but it didn't work out. Relationships broke down, and now he's not here, but you can't really focus on that. You've got to continue to move forward."

In Minnesota, McNabb's acquisition demonstrates that the team is still in a "win now" mode and has not started a rebuild around Ponder.

Frazier has maintained all along that the Vikings are not rebuilding, even after they went 6-10 last season and finished in last place in the NFC North for the first time since 1990.

Ponder was billed as the most NFL-ready quarterback in the 2011 class, but not being able to work with new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and most of his teammates at various minicamps and organized team activities throughout the summer would make it a bigger challenge for him to be ready to start in San Diego on Sept. 11.

Ponder said last week during a workout at the University of Minnesota that he still was aiming to be the starter from Day 1.

"That's what I'm pushing for," he said. "That's what I'm hoping for. So we'll see what happens."

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AP Sports Writer Joseph White in Washington contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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