I never really understood why the Philadelphia Eagles signed Michael Vick. They had Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb on the roster, and Vick didn’t seem to fit. There was no room for him to play (other than in Wildcat situations….which he never played before) and they gave him a two-year deal that paid him some $5 million in his second season.
My only guess was that they were willing to take the PR hit if they could develop him and prove to the league that this guy was ready to start again. Well, that hasn’t really happened and any efforts to move Vick were unsuccessful.
Speaking to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Vick said he understands why no one wanted to trade for him.
“Actually, I understood,” Vick said. “Because I’d been out of football. I didn’t play behind a center for three years. I know how good I am. The [Eagles] coaches know how good I am. I know I could have landed some place, but it wasn’t meant to be. But now my skills are back. I’m ready. I’m faster than I’ve ever been before. I’m quicker, light on my feet. So I guess somebody missed out this time around. But I guess I’ll make it work here and they’ll see.”
Vick has made it clear that he doesn’t want to be a backup, but he really doesn’t have a choice right now. He’s getting paid really well, so why should he care?
“Being a competitor you always want to start,” Vick said Monday, his first day at OTA’s. “I know in my future that’s there for me. I’ll be a starter in this league again. Right now I’m just having fun honing my skills.
“You’re going to have an opportunity to be a starter. And I’ll say, ‘OK, I’m going to go back to the drawing board and work on a lot of things that I didn’t have a chance to work on because I was forced into action so fast.’ I have to work on those things and when I get back to doing them I’m going to be dangerous. That’s all I can say — I’ll be dangerous.”
Does Vick think he’ll be moved before the season?
“I expect to be here at the start of the season playing the role and doing what I’m doing,” Vick said. “I enjoy this organization, the locker room and the staff. It’s a great place to be. Unless something else happens, I expect to be here.”
I’ll be curious to see if the Eagles can justify that fat salary for a backup. Would they really cut him outright?
What do you think the Eagles will do with Vick? Cut him? Trade him? Keep him as a backup?
Gotta keep him as the backup at this point, or the Eagles would look really crazy. He will never be a conventional QB, but if he does have his speed back he can be very efffective for a few games a year. $5 Million does seem like a lot for a backup, until we look around the leauge a little – Jake Delhomme (7 million in 2010), Daunte Culpepper (5 million in 2009), Chad Pennington (5.7 Million in 2009), are all getting big bucks and aren’t nearly as talented as Vick. I would take Vick over serveral “Starters”, and I’m very comfortable with him as the backup.
Unless there’s another veteran backup available, Vick will be here.
I would like for Kolb to be the next Brady, Roethlisberger or Rogers but if he screws up (i would rather Kolb come out and play like hell and lead us), Vick will step in and do his thang. I really believe Reid and co feel the same. They know what Vick can do. He’s still explosive, they’re just keeping him on ice right now.
Peace
I shudder at the thought of Vick being ONE play away from starting for the eagles.
It’s clear why he wasn’t moved and command a high salary. He’s the insurance policy, and if kolb is 0-2 out the shoot with all those weapons, Vick (the former pro bowler) will be the spark to catipult this team from obscurity. I pray this happens to give the team a new hope behind a strong armed, elusive, quarterback, in contrast to the stiff maneguin that have been given the job without proving he can play in this league.
Too late to get rid or cut him now, too much $$$ and time invested in him,
My suggestion is to use him for this 2010 Season…
Have him run at least 1 complete offensive series a Half as the QB, also use him in Wildcat Packages and of course in some Short-yardage, Red Zone sets.. If you have a weapon, you may as well utilize since your paying him anyways and give opposing teams a whole lot more to prepare for..
This also will take a little pressure off of Kolb starting out and allow him to watch a series or two from sidelines to see how the opposing Defense’s are lining up,match-ups,blitizes and coverages etc,etc..
Have Vick handle 12-16 snaps a game while he still has the ability to make 3-4 big plays a game …
Football is a long season and who knows if Kolb gets injured and misses a a couple of games,
or if another team starter goes down and maybe all of a sudden need a M Vick as their QB..
I think your all nuts. I also think this man has handled his situation with class and dignity. Yeah, thats right, with class. He had some shit go down and was betrayed by family and lost everything. And all he has done is answered for it and then some. Picking himself up off the mat, dusting himself off and refusing to quit. You want a Rocky story? A true life tale of redemption? Its right there in front of us. Its just not all dressed up in pretty lil bows and ribbons. Good job Michael Vick. You’ve made this Philadelphia Eagles fan very proud. Keep it up and you’ll get your shot.
No salary cap this year, he’s not under contract for 2011, and they have no backup. I can’t cheer for him but it makes no sense for the Eagles to get rid of him unless they get a good deal.
only in philadelphia would kevin kolb be starting or Vick. This should have been an open competiion with the winner getting the new big contract. normally this kolb guy wouldn’t be able to come in eyeball distance of mcnabbs or vick’s jock strap, but in philly this can be expected.
(The scene in an eagles front office meeting)
Andy reid- kolb has developed really well in practice, in the classroom, watching tape and on the field. From the day Bill Walsh told me to draft him, to now, he’s really come along.
Marty- yeah an he was very productive and looked pretty good in game action despite some rookie/inexperience mistakes.
Some eagles exec – ok then. Let’s give this kid the reigns.
Another employee, uh but kolb hasn’t proven himself to Song. Who cares what a legendary hall of fame coach and two successful coaches with sb rings care. Everything that the team works on and develops at the novacare center is worthless.
The only thing that matters is Songs opinion….
Rocky didn’t kill dogs.
Songs, you are the ultimate internet warrior. What’s it like living in your mom’s basement? Don’t be late for work at the Mini-Mart. Get lost.
i agree with u songs kolb should be the 1 running 10 – 12 gadget plays a gm while vick starts. look andy had 2 give philly what they wanted so he could at least say he tried and we all know what they wanted look how they loved garcia he did the same as d5 went to playoffs lost but was a hero aj feeley won a few gms a few yrs back he was hailed as king at that time ppl actually wanted him 2 start of d5 when d5 got back. andy has no choice but to let kolb start its for this disgusting fan base
schiller u say it like andy never is wrong he wrong a whole fing alot apparantly we didnt win a chip with d5 and he traded him for a bag of donuts so andy was wrong bout d5 too then. please this man said freddie mitchell was going to be a star lmao
Phillywill, I didn’t completely understand your post. What did you mean when you said “Andy had to give Philly what they wanted” to start for “this disgusting fanbase.” I didn’t get what you were implying.
fraudsong & philwil…kings of the DMac fan club and haters of all that is Philly.
If it is so bad, then why should you care enough to even post? Tell it to the fans in Washington becuase it is really getting old here.
yea u do this disgustingly prejudice fanbase
john elway didnt have to go thru this if d5 were white he’d still be our qb im quite sure of this
greenfan stfu im from northphilly live in gtown went to temple i know everything philly and love most about it but i’v grown to hate the eagles the past few yrs so what u prob from like jersey
PW, from all of your postings you see everything as racist. Nothing I can say will ever change your viewpoint. I will ask you again, if everything eagles, fans and front office are as prejudice as you proclaim, why would you pretend to be a fan?
phillywill your so off base.
Im a huge McNabb fan and didnt want to see him go. And guess what IM WHITE!
But to say he would still be here if he were white is crazy. This is Philly cuz. If this were any other city with fans that dont care about there team yeah he would still be here. I think the world of McNabb he is the best QB in franchise history. But this team has NEVER won a Super Bowl and this fan base deserves it in the worst way. The NFL caught up to the Eagles and McNabb thing. The stinking Cowgirls exposed that in the final 2 games of the year. Its time for a change and the Front office gave it to the fans. Do I think Kolb will be the answer no and do I think Vick is HELL NO. Vick is not a NFL Qb end of story he is really good to have in video games but in the real world he isnt that good just look at his PASSING STATS not his running stats his passing stats.
Get off this racist shit its old and not relevent to this situation.
im not an eagle fan anymore i want 2 see them lose every game i wasnt a d5 fan was he was here but my God how this franchise and fanbase treats its players is ridiculous and no the cowboys didnt catch up 2 d5 if he played his best gm ever still would have lost our d couldnt stop them if we left 22 players on the field and like i said if d5 were white he’d be here its pretty simple. when u have a playoff team and u make changes u r doing to them 2 upgrade i dont know what kolb will do but odds are he aint better than d5 you dont trade ur qb for a bag of donuts unless u r bringing in another like if we werent bringing in brady brees manning maybe rodgers maybe phil rivers then u keep d5 he’s a top top 6 qb in the league and when he’s on top 3. but the eagles preach being a class guy preach not bitchn bout contracts always being politically correct for press conferences u have ur franchise player who is an example of this and u treatem like mike vick treat dogs and for every1 to be so upbeat about kolb its dsgusting i bleed red n white now sixers phillees redskins very sad
what a suprise
The thing that disturbs me about Vick’s comments is that he didn’t even mention the dog situation as a reason why other teams aren’t interested in him. If he was real with himself and the guy was injured and basically out for two seasons just based on his history and stats multiple teams would want to give him a second chance. If he was out for two years without being injured, for whatever reason, and wanted to come back there would have been blood wars waged to get the guy…let’s not forget he was viewed as the most dangerous player in the game for the whole time he was starting and he earned that reputation after he was the overall #1 pick out of the draft the year he came out. It’s only in Philly people conveniently neglect to remember all the buzz the guy created for himself as a player. Personally I hope the guy blows Kolb away in summer camp practices forcing the coaches to go a different way just so I don’t have to watch half to three quarters of a season of mediocrity.
For the record…my opinion is that the reasons the fans wanted McNabb out were racist.(looking at Dan Marino, John Elway, Peyton Manning…Comparing philly fans opinions of those players vs. McNabb it’s pretty obvious and not even sorta debatable) The reasons the organization wanted him out were naive, narrow-minded, short-sighted, ageist, and ultimately stupid.
by Vick’s own statements he has indicated that he didn’t prepare or train the way he should have during his time in Atlanta…this is from a guy who was drafted #1 overall and give a huge contract. I believe that teams have looked at his past performance, his 54% career completion rate and 76 career QB rating and see a player they do not want to take a risk (let alone $5 million dollars) on. That being said, I do believe that once camp begins and there is a chance of injuries creating a need with teams that are not now interested, there may be a market for Vick yet.
scorp, I do not see why the philly fans are racists because they have tired of McNabbs act? These same fans have supported a defensive unit that for the past 20 years has had only a handfull of white players. But because they were tired of the same old routine and not getting a SB they are now racist? I don’t buy it.
how can u grow tired of an act when the act was never accepted u loved him 1 yr when we lost to the rams u appreciated the fact that we were a shit team with an overachieving qb it was like fools gold then because of the rams nfc chip gm int the following seasons anything less than sb was a failure now i want a sb too and in someways this theory is probably right but ur overlooking the fact that we werent that good we played in a division with quincy carter dal dave brown ny and like mark brunel was redskins qb so makin playoffs was easy we never got 2 see our flaws till we played in the playoffs against better comp and were exposed because we were always 3 or 4 guys short listen it was a package deal its as much the fault of AR as is d5 and bdawk and blaine bishop and AR again lol cause michael lewis should have been playing then maybe the slowest wr ever jurevcious doesnt go 90 yards i mean the list is endless of who we could blame but i like the sixers approach they blame the coach lol
Phillywill, dude Andy never said that about Freddie Mitchell. If you’re saying it’s implied because he drafted the guy, you can pick a bad draft pick EVERY YEAR FOR EVERY TEAM. But he didn’t say that. That’s how skewed your hate for Andy has made you – you make stuff up.
I cant believe so many good posters here are wasting thought on He Who Must Not Be Named. Dude prolly doesnt talk to anyone all day and comes on here, types like a 7 year old, and riles all you’se guys up. Ignore his idiocy and maybe he’ll leave. Thars a thought!
All the honkies in Philly cheer for a 90 % black team, wear their numbers and names on their jerseys, and live and die with them. They loved Dawk, and Westbrook, and Sheldon, and a zillion African-Americans going back to the sixties. But if they don’t like their quarterback because of his skills, or his vibe, or his personality–they’re RACIST! This is one of the things that really turned me around politically. I went from Power To The People to wanting to join the Tea-Baggers. Cut that S–t out! It’s old!!!
This is how we can give credibility to philly’s opinion. If Dan Marino was Mcnabb’s age playing for the eagles, would they have traded him to a division rival for an unknown comodity? What about Elway at the same point in his career? You think those organizations looked to trade their hall of fame quarterbacks? Green bay kept rogers on the bench in respect to their hall of fame quarterback until Favre could not decide if he wanted to come back, then they finally pulled the plug. But, if Favre would have committed they would have kept him. That’s respect. Dan Reeves had to go…..Not Elway.
You don’t downgrade a position….especially quarterback unless you know for sure….and you definately don’t change a quarterback without a monster top 10 defense to cover him. It will be total ignorance not to at least look at the race position since this have never happened to any white quarterback with Mcnabb’s credentials. not one
good advice jimmy mac
“The only thing we knew for sure, was that Henry Porter’s name, wasn’t really Henry Porter..”
from “Brownsville Girl”, Happy Birthday Bob Dylan…
song..there is a big difference between Farve and McNabb…one has a ring and the other doesn’t. Both organizations decided that it was time to move away from the veteran and go to a backup who had been with the organization a few years. One difference is that the Eagles did it and were able to get something in return, the Packers got nothing for Farve.
I am not always a big fan of the way this front office does business, and really between McNabb and Reid I believe that Reid is more of the reason this team has not been able to “get over the hump” of winning a superbowl. But a change needed to happen, but I hated seeing them trade him within the division. I am hopeful that Big Red understands that he cannot continue to have issues with an over reliance on the pass and time managment issues. He has always seemed to be able to do well when we needed to scale back the offense for a backup qb (Feeley, Garcia, Kolb), so I hold out hope that they can be successful with the change.
Thank you green fan but I think you left out the other examplesa that were at Mcnabb’s age without winning a superbowl…the first two…Marino and Elway at the age of 34…please respond to those.
I don’t get your Marino comparison. He had great numbers but never brought a championship to Miami, and only went to the SuperBowl his rookie year. Yeah, he is a HOF qb, gave them lots of years of entertainment, but if you want entertainment go subscribe to HBO. He didn’t win a championship and that is what we got with McNabb too. If I was a Dolphin fan I would have been upset with the organization for not getting it done too. Like I said above, I believe that Reid is more to blame for the lack of championships than McNabb, but a change was needed or McNabb would have ended here the same way Marino ended in Miami, nice HOF type career numbers but no championship for the city and fans.
green..Now we know Marino was respected even though he never won a superbowl…you missed the main one…remember… Elway at Mcnabb’s age?
He was everything the media and the fans said about Elway at his age…spin that one. They replaced the scheme and coach knowing the division was use to reeves tendencies. I’ll be waiting for that comparison..don’t forget…Elway at Mcnabb’s age.
song..you are asking me to look at Elway from ’83 to ’94. Each played in 5 pro-bowls. At that stage Elway had a 7-6 playoff record and 3 superbowl appearances and McNabb has a 9-7 playoff record with 1 superbowl appearance. Donovan has a higher career qb rating, but both were around a 85-92 rating in the 2 years before their 11th season.
At the same stage in their careers Elway had started 172 regular season games while McNabb had played 142. Injury has had a greater effect on McNabbs career to this point than Elway. He had played in 30 more games, almost 2 complete seasons more than McNabb during the same time period.
Song you aurgument is valid. It is a good comparison. As I see it there were 3 differences.
For the first 9 years of Elways career he played for Dan Reeves and they made it to 3 superbowls with no wins. The organization chose to change the head coach instead of the qb, a move that I believe should have been made in philly also but they chose to go the other direction. He played for Wade Phillips for a couple of years and then Shanahan. Shanahan and a running game was able to help him win 2 superbowls at the end of his career.
At the same point Elway had made it to 3 superbowls while McNabb has made it to 1. Sounds like I might be splitting hairs, but there is a difference.
Lastly, the durability factor. As stated above, McNabb has played in 30 fewer games at the same point in their careers. A qb is no good to his team if he is sitting on the sidelines. I am not saying that McNabb is fragile, or doesn’t play hard through injuries. The way that he played with the broken ankle is something I will never forget and nobody can say that he isn’t physically tough, however, the numbers show that he has missed alot of games over the past 11 years and I have to believe that his risk of injury will only get larger as his age increases.
Overall it is a good comparison. I think that Denver chose to get rid of the coach instead of the qb. It was a decision that helped them win a superbowl years later, but not one that the Eagles believed was right for them. I would have liked to see them let the coach go and keep the qb, but I guess big red has too much power within the organization. Regardless a change needed to be made and this is the way that things have worked out for the birds. Good point Song, it was worth looking at.
i think i need to take a break..i just agreed with songsrme2
“Song sung Blues, everybody has them”….
yes song we know if d5 were elway he’d be our qb we know this and for the record u can love all the black people u want where all their jersyes whatever im not saying its the 60s im just saying its much easier for u to criticize and run a black qb out of town period any1 who honestly doesnt believe that is in denial it was between andy and d5 i guess that was an easy pick elway and reid wouldve been a much harder selection and we know y just keep it real stop being politically correct
and fan since 1960 u have no choice but 2 cheer or u wouldnt be cheering at all its a perdominantly black league besides qbs and lineman maybe a fullback here or there a cpl linebackers u have no choice so spare me the sarcasm
philwil with more hate, some things will never change
lol u sound like me when d5 was here
i will never sound like you, you blame everything on race
u r right u can never sound like me im not in denial so seriously i’ll dop it after this tell me the truth tho if d5 was white he would have still been traded for a bag of donuts ? like im not saying ur prejudice or nutn like that im just saying the truth if d5 were white andy might have been let go it would have at least been some thought on that but there was no thought andy ours guy d5 aint lol i mean thats the truth sorry im not g and sugarcoat if i talk 2 g in a bar or somewhere off record i guarantee u he’d agree with me maybe not on this site lol he’s politically correct here but y u think g still post so much d5 stuff i know he didnt agree with this he knows the deal
phillywill – You have made your – it’s all about race – point – ok, you are indeed entitled to your opinion. But what do you base your ‘for a bag of donuts’ and ‘no thought’ ideas from? You are probably the only person in the world, regardless of their opinion on McNabb, Andy, the Eagles, or the trade, that thinks that the Eagles front office didn’t put a lot of thought into it. That’s a ridiculous statement, agree with the move or not, everyone knows that they put a TON of thought into it. Second, 2 high draft picks are not ‘a bag of donuts’ – and on the NFL trade value board, the Eagles got a #1 pick for him – the two they got plus the one for next year equal a high #1 round pick. You can believe the trade was dumb, or that it would have been different if McNabb was white (most people would disagree with you though) – but to say they didn’t put thought into it and that the compensation was a bag of donuts is ridiculously WRONG.
cmon u telling me we didnt know right after dallas game he was gone stop this denial shit man andy got a fuckin extension mid season so he wasnt going anywhere i said they never thought about andy it should have come to andy or d5 and i think it did and the decision to give mcnabb doe instead of an ext told me that the decision was made be4 the season started u extended dumb ass andy midseason y not d5 cause they already knew so please stop
and with the race thing i think u guys think im saying like u sit at home and say hes black i hatem no im not saying that all im saying is its more comfortable and again this is my own theory and im entitled to it being as tho i live here and have lived here 29yrs i just feel like people r way more comfortable with a white qb also i dont think andy and the FO felt like they would take any PR hit for the move now if he was white i just feel like the thought process and the whole way this played out would be different. in fact i know it would have been different and lurie would have had a bigger decision d5 or Andy and then they would have though long and hard but being as tho phily hated d5 and tolerates andy the choice was simple i dare 2 ask another ? if andy was black would he still be ur coach now u can lie be in denial or whatever but we all know that ans
what do they say about arguing with an idiot? i am done with the whole “race debate”
only an idiot knows the answer to that i wish this was in person u wouldnt dare talk like that