After 5 Seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, Michael Vick is expected to return to the free agent market next week. Nick Foles had a tremendous season and it will never be known what kind of year Vick would have had, had he not gone down with a hamstring injury in week 5.
Chip Kelly’s innovation seemed like a great fit for Vick and despite not playing more than 13 games in a season since 2006, he remains one of the more dynamic players in the NFL.
Paving the way for the wave of do-everything quarterbacks, maybe Mike Vick came along a little too soon. His arm is still one of the strongest in the league and we all know what he can do with his legs. He’s said he wants to be a starter. It appears a handful of teams could use the four-time Pro Bowl quarterback, who is also the all-time rushing leader at the position. He’s taken a lot of hits over the years because of his wreckless style, inefficient offensive line play and coaches just not knowing exactly how to implement his skillset.
Since this is a new league and quarterback mobility is almost a prerequisite, Vick will land somewhere and compete as a starter, but where ? After it's all said and done, don't be surprised if Vick goes back to Philly and backs up Foles. Many are sold, but considering the Eagles schedule strength last season, Foles might have been in the right place at the right time. Seattle, San Francisco and Carolina all have teams with mobile quarterbacks and surely Chip Kelly knows the potential of his offense with a quarterback that can do it all.
Point is, don't be so sure that Vick is done in the City of Brotherly Love. If he does leave, what are the best options?
Minnesota Vikings
@MikeVick would intently make the vikings a playoff team!
— Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson) March 6, 2014
It would be criminal for Adrian Peterson to not have the chance to make one deep playoff run considering everything he’s done for the Vikings franchise as the only consistent weapon once Percy Harvin left. Peterson knows Minnesota needs a real threat at QB to keep defenses honest and limit the abuse Peterson takes and delivers at the line of scrimmage. Vick is not the runner in space that he once was, but having Peterson in the backfield will allow him to run free a little more easily, move the chains and add more possessions to the game.
His public campaigning of Vick makes sense because it doesn’t appear Christian Ponder is the answer. In three seasons Ponder has compiled totals of 6,436 yards passing, 38 touchdowns, 34 picks all for a mediocre 77.3 rating. That’s not going to get it done and the Vikings will never win with a quarterback known more for who he’s married to, than his actual play on the field. That being said, Matt Cassel will probably be the choice considering all the moves the franchise needs to make on a Vikings defense that couldn’t stop anyone. Josh Freeman just wasn’t the guy either in his limited action after getting away from Tampa Bay and all that drama.
Adrian Peterson wants to win. Who could blame him for doing whatever to make that happen? Peterson sees what many see in Vick’s physical abilities and if Vick could ever stay healthy, Minnesota would be a great place to finish up a career because the franchise drive is there to get to the next level.
Jacksonville Jaguars
David Caldwell is probably numb to anything resembling the word quarterback. The Tim Tebow trumpets boomed in Florida and and the GM did everything to shut them up and close the door on the slightest speculation concerning Tebow stepping one foot in Jags’ facilities. Throw in Blaine Gabbert and Chad Henne, and Caldwell is probably looking skyward and asking what he did to deserve such a bad situation. The quarterback position has to put fans in the seats and since none of the aforementioned has done that – let alone win – Caldwell has to do something to get the fan base excited in this team again. Jacksonville has the 3rd pick in the upcoming draft, but hasn’t committed to taking a quarterback with the pick probably because of the mistake of selecting Gabbert. This team has so many holes, that it doesn’t’ matter who's under center, because no quarterback dead or alive could come in and lead this abysmal team to the playoffs.
Bringing in Vick would be a wise decision, but that move would be more about entertainment than an actual mindset of winning football games. Maurice Jones-Drew where are you and what are you going to do make that move to consistency Justin Blackmon?
Oakland Raiders
Terrell Pryor needs a teacher and whom better to teach him than the man that was once the mobile quarterback prototype. Pryor has all the gifts of Cam Newton and is actually a faster runner than Newton, so having Mike Vick mentor Pryor is logical. Oakland loves the long ball and Vick certainly possesses the arm to get it down field and excite the Black Hole. The franchise isn’t even in a position to win games, so Vick is perfect to handle any adversity surely he’d have to handle for a team that is looking to be 8-8 at best.
New York Jets
Geno Smith had a season most quarterbacks his age would have had, considering all the dysfunction within the Jets organization. With Smith’s rookie totals of 3,046 passing yards, 12 touchdowns, 21 interceptions and a shaky rating of 66.5, Vick might be the best man to come in and get Smith ready mentally and physically to run a New York show where every day is a crazy day.
Geno isn’t a mobile quarterback in a Colin Kaepernick sense, but he definitely has enough to elude the rush. Bringing in Vick would ante up the competition and also show Smith how to apply his underrated agility to a team desperately looking to get out from under itself. It’s not like Vick isn’t accustomed to dealing with a media circus, so being a stop gap until Geno is ready to take over from a field and leadership standpoint seems plausible.
After taking the Jets to two consecutive AFC Championships, it looks like Mark Sanchez is done in NY (probably good for him to head elsewhere), and Vick coming in might be more about familiarity. Marty Mornhinweg was the offensive coordinator for Vick’s best season (2010). Since he’s in the same capacity with the Jets, my best guess is for Vick to not travel too far up I-95, and show Geno the ropes on and off the field. He'll need Vick's guidance in navigating scores with Gangreen's questionable offense. This is a very important year for Rex Ryan and his staff and owner Woody Johnson is a big-name fiend so don’t think a move like this is out of the question.
