Washington quarterback Donovan McNabb, benched two weeks ago when his team needed a late scoring drive to win, signed a five-year deal worth a reported $US78 million ($A79.4 million) on Monday to stay with the Redskins.Hours before the Redskins faced McNabb's former Philadelphia teammates in a National Football League game, McNabb struck a deal with $US40 million ($A40.72 million) guaranteed and more in possible performance bonuses.
Ten days shy of his 34th birthday, McNabb assured himself five more seasons with a team that obtained him in an off-season trade with NFC East division rival Eagles but benched him for the final crucial minutes two weeks ago.
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Redskins coach Mike Shanahan elected to bench McNabb on October 31 at Detroit with Shanahan expressing concern about McNabb in a time-compressed situation in going with backup Rex Grossman on the final two Washington possessions against the Lions when trailing by only six points.
"I thought that was the best scenario for us to win," Shanahan said.
Grossman fumbled away the ball to surrender a touchdown on his first play and the Redskins lost 37-25.
McNabb, a six-time All-Pro quarterback, did not express anger after the benching.
"You have to be a professional. There's a long season ahead of us," McNabb said. "You just have to learn from it and move on."
The Redskins, with four wins and four losses, had a bye week last week and talks between McNabb and the club took place during the extended rest break.
"Once the regular season started, we really were aiming toward the bye week, and it came together," Redskins general manager Bruce Allen said.
"I think coach and myself said that Donovan is going to be here from the beginning and Donovan has been real clear in his intent of being a Redskin. So I think it just puts an exclamation point on it."
McNabb is having his roughest season since his first NFL campaign statistically, having completed 57.4 percent of passes for seven touchdownsand eight interceptions over the first half of the season while being sacked 22 times.
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