With a $1.5 million roster bonus due to Michael Vick only two days away, all eyes turn from the NFL Combines in Indy (see results) to the Philadelphia Eagles.
What will the Eagles do, trade Vick or keep him? For sure they won't let him walk......
Whether Michael Vick should be playing in the NFL is now a dead issue. While there are those who won't let it go, the reality is that he's back and will likely the starting QB for an NFL franchise in 2010.
As mentioned, if the Eagles still have Vick on their roster on March 5th they will have to pay him a $1.5 million roster bonus. The Eagles currently have 3 quarterbacks that they feel can start and be successful for NFL teams. So, what will the Eagles do with Vick?
The most likely scenario is that they will pay him the bonus and keep him on the roster until the start of the 2010 NFL pre-season. In essence, this is really just buying the Eagles time to shop for the best deal they can get. There are talks that the Eagles may trade Donovan McNabb and keep Vick and Kevin Kolb but the Eagles will be much better off if they wait and trade Vick when a team finds out that they really need him and time is running out to get him. While there are several teams calling the Eagles now making offers for Vick, the Eagles to their credit aren't biting.
Michael Vick gives a franchise instant notoriety. When Vick was in Atlanta, jerseys flew off the racks and ticket's sold in bunches. The Falcons sold out every home game of the Michael Vick era once he assumed the role of starter. That was unheard of in Atlanta. When I was growing up, because of blackouts much of the time the only way to see Falcon home games was to go to them.
Vick will make a franchise he goes to money and that matters quite a bit to owners, often it matters more than winning. For the fans, the NFL is a past-time and an obsession, for the owners the NFL is a business. Here is a list of team that could use Vick. Vick could help these teams both on the field and in the bank.
Buffalo Bills: The Bills have been a mediocre team for a long time now. Outside of one year when "the Miracle in Memphis" spoiled their playoff run, they haven't had a successful season since Jim Kelly was their QB. Trent Edwards is under fire, they have a new coach in Chan Gailey, and they are changing their entire offense and tinkering with the no huddle. XPF founder Mike Cardano thinks a marriage between Vick and the Bills is a relationship worth pursuing:
"This may seem like a ho-hum move having little affect on the NFL landscape like getting Terrell Owens was but this could potentially turn out to be a block-buster. There would be a lot of pressure on defenses around the league with Michael Vick running a no huddle. Think about it, the defense can't substitute, the big lineman would get tired and ‘whiff' there goes Michael Vick whizzing past them as he takes off on one of his Michael Vick patented runs. You have that happen once or twice and the secondary will start to leave their man to support when Vick breaks the pocket leaving receivers wide open."
St. Louis Rams: I am not sure there is anything the Rams could do to even be a mediocre team right now. They are years away from having everything together. The Rams were 28th in passing and only had two passing plays of 40 plus yards. Kyle Boller and Marc Bulger are the two top QB's on the current roster. If the Rams don't take Bradford in or Clausen in the draft, look for them to try and trade for Vick.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: They threw Josh Freeman into the fire but had a QB rating of 59.8 in 2009 and throwing 10 TD's and 18 Int's. Publicly they say that he's the guy, but privately you have to think that they would think Vick would make them a better team.
Oakland Raiders: With information coming out on Monday that the Raiders will be placing a second round tender on Bruce Gradkowski, the signal is pretty clear that the JaMarcus Russell experiment is now over. Al Davis loves to get his "toys" and Vick may be the ultimate "toy." The Raiders fans would love him and he would certainly sell tickets and merchandise. XPF founder Mike Cardano had this to say about a Vick under center for the Black and Silver:
"Gradkowski is like one of those baseball players that is valuable to a team that can fill in for spurts. If you play him once and a while he gives your team a spark, if you play him every day, he gets exposed. Gradkowski would make a nice back-up to Vick."
Michael Vick will likely be playing for one of these teams next year in the NFL and will once again be a starting QB. The expectations for a huge playoff run from the acquisition of Vick by one of these teams may be a bit misguided though as these teams need a lot more help than just at QB. While the team Michael Vick ends up with may not become a playoff team right away, they will certainly be more competitive and give their fans hope. They will undoubtedly sell more tickets and merchandise.- Bob Bearden
Bob is a regular guest contributor on sports talk radio in the Southeastern United States. Bob's views and opinions on professional and college sporting events can now be found right here on the MC3 Sports Media's family of websites.
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