Paul Domowitch: Refuting draft rumors on Tebow; talking Vick's future

This was originally posted yesterday by Paul Domowitch on the Daily News' Eagles blog, Eagletarian, at www.eagletarian.com:

I hate to be a killjoy, but I have to shoot down a juicy Eagles-related story that's been making the rounds this week.

Shortly after Donovan McNabb was traded to the Redskins, SI.com's Peter King reported that the Eagles have expressed interest in University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. "I have heard the Eagles will now focus on Tebow and are likely to join the parade of teams working him out and spending time with him," King wrote.

With all due respect to what Peter heard, the Eagles aren't expected to be participating in any predraft Tebow parade. According to a league source, they currently have no plans to bring Tebow in for a predraft visit or work him out elsewhere. They had representatives at his Pro Day workout last month, but that's been it.

Does that mean they absolutely, positively won't draft Tebow later this month? No, but it's extremely unlikely, particularly as his stock continues to rise. With seven picks in the first four rounds, they can afford to take a flier on a guy, much like they did with injured Wisconsin cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu in the fourth round of the '08 draft.

But, right now, Tebow is no worse than the fourth-rated quarterback on most teams' draft boards, behind only Sam Bradford, Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy. Best guess is he will be taken no lower than the third round and possibly even earlier. If he slipped lower than that, then the Eagles might take him. But that's not going to happen, which is one of the reasons they don't feel the need to bring him in for a visit.

With McNabb gone, the Eagles currently only have two quarterbacks on their roster. So you would think there's a pretty good chance they'll select one in the draft. But the fact that they have been unable to trade Michael Vick has put them in a little bit of a bind.

Andy Reid never will admit this, but while he likes Vick as a Wildcat weapon, he doesn't have a lot of faith in his ability to run his offense if something were to happen to Kevin Kolb this season.

The Eagles still are hoping to move Vick, I'm told. But if they can't, they really can't afford to go with Kolb, Vick and a rookie project as their three quarterbacks. They would have to bring in another veteran quarterback - like Marc Bulger - to kind of play the role Kolb did last season, which was the No. 3 quarterback on game day behind McNabb and Vick, but the guy who would actually replace the starter if he got hurt.

If the Eagles are able to trade Vick before the conclusion of the draft, then they could bring in somebody like Bulger to back up Kolb and take a young quarterback in the draft.