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When Donovan McNabb injured his knee against the Titans and missed the end of the 2006 season, that was reason enough for the Eagles to draft a quarterback in the second round, writes columnist Michael Ventre.

Some pundits might object to an analogy that puts the NFL and organized crime in the same breath; they would point out that the random nature of incidents involving ‘Pacman’ Jones, Tank Johnson, the Cincinnati Bengals, et al, make “disorganized crime” a more accurate label.

But the sentiment involving McNabb remains: This is the business he’s chosen.

There are certain occupations that promise more security. A citizen can take a civil service test, get a job with the post office or some other government agency and be reasonably sure of lifelong employment.

Then there are jobs like “professional football player,” which by its nature holds no such guarantee. One minute a player can be riding high, soaking in the limelight while raking in the dough, the next he can be sending out resumes to car dealerships or begging an old teammate to hire him as an assistant coach for a high school team.

When you become a professional athlete, you immediately become a member of an endangered species. And NFL players constitute the most endangered species of them all.

McNabb is, by most accounts, a good guy. But occasionally a glimpse into his insecurities has been revealed. A while back, during the whole Terrell Owens tempest, T.O. remarked that he would prefer having Brett Favre as his quarterback over McNabb, which caused McNabb in an interview with ESPN to compare the remark to “black on black crime.”

That was a bit of an overreaction.

And so is his “shock” over the Eagles’ selection of Kolb, a highly regarded prospect ranked on some draft boards close to JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn. Kolb has a shot at eventually unseating McNabb as the Eagles’ starting quarterback. He also has a chance to be a complete waste of a draft pick. That’s football.

If I were McNabb, I would do what football players are expected to do: embrace the competition. In the meantime, I would also refrain from making any more remarks that portray me as a guy who expects to be handed a job.

Football doesn’t work that way.

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