Read Sports Geek and Loyal Homer’s arguments on which teams would have been a better fit for Michael Vick.
I was as shocked as anyone to see the announcement last week that Michael Vick signed with the Philadelphia Eagles. Not shocked because of what it meant for Vick, but for what it meant for the Philadelphia Eagles organization.
The Eagles now have to accept full responsibility for the social experiment that is Michael Vick’s return to the NFL. Whether it is the intention of head coach Andy Reid that Vick compete with the incumbent Donovan McNabb for the starting quarterback position or not, people will nevertheless view the two stars as competing. That perceived competition will add undue pressure to McNabb, and it unnecessarily shifts focus away from the more pressing needs of the team.
If Reid tries to insert Vick into a new role which he is not as comfortable playing in, and Vick fails, then Reid will be to blame for misappropriating Vick’s skills because he put Vick in a position where he was destined to fail. Either way, Vick can mitigate many of his shortcomings, and the Eagles will be almost entirely to blame if the experiment is unsuccessful.
The Philadelphia Eagles are the wrong fit for Michael Vick.
The team that should have been trying DESPERATELY to bring Vick into their organization is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers! Whether they believed the negative press was worth it or not, the Buccaneers are in desperate need of a player with Vick’s abilities. Tampa Bay would have presented a much more suitable home for #7.
The most obvious reason why Vick belongs in Tampa Bay is because the team is starved for talent at the quarterback position. Under new general manager Mark Dominik, and new head coach Raheem Morris, 2009 will mark the fifth time in six seasons that the Buccaneers begin the year with a new starting quarterback. This year, it will either be career backup Luke McCown or the injury-prone Byron Leftwich playing the role of signal-caller – and expectations are not very high for either.
Neither McCown nor Leftwich present Tampa with a viable long-term solution under center. While there may be questions regarding whether or not Vick can return to the same level he was playing at when he left the game, it is hard to argue against the fact that he still presents greater upside for the team than do the current options of Leftwich and McCown. Raheem Morris has already embraced 2009 as being a year with an open quarterback competition, so why not add Vick into the mix? He would have been available at a very cheap price (signing with Philadelphia for $1.6M with a team option for a second year), posing only a minimal risk that could have paid off with huge dividends if Vick were able to step in and lead the Buccaneers.
What made the seeming lack of interest from Tampa even more surprising was the fact that the Buccaneers had a very aggressive offseason in many other aspects. The team had already brought in tight end Kellen Winslow from Cleveland and running back Derrick Ward from the New York Giants. They had also released some of their ‘older’ big name players like wide receiver Ike Hilliard and linebacker Derrick Brooks. The Buccaneers appeared to be a rebuilding team ready to look to the future, except at the quarterback position.
The combination of Michael Vick with Kellen Winslow, Jr. would have been especially exciting (and productive). While with Atlanta, Vick’s favorite target was his tight end Alge Crumpler. Over the five year period they were paired together, Vick and Crumpler combined for more than 3,700 receiving yards and 30 touchdowns. Winslow, a pro bowler with a remarkable ability to make big plays (he even made Derek Anderson look good!), would have been a perfect complement to Vick. Vick’s scrambling and rushing ability would have also paired nicely with Derrick Ward in the backfield, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season in part time work for the Giants.
Tampa Bay had a great deal to gain and very little to lose if they pulled the trigger on a deal with Michael Vick. In the midst of rebuilding, and in dire need for talent at the quarterback position, the Buccaneers would have been able to put Vick’s considerable ability to immediate use. While the prospect of dealing with the negative publicity from signing Vick may have seemed unappealing to Dominik and Morris – both of whom are themselves rookies in their respective roles – the seeming refusal to even consider Vick is something they will regret for years to come.
