Vick Will Have Minimal Impact on the Eagles, so Why Do We All Care?

Vick this. Vick that. Finally, he’s signed with a team: the Philadelphia Eagles. So what? He’s suspended for probably the first 6 games of the year. Donovan McNabb is clearly the starter, and even though he’s been injury prone the last few seasons, do you really think there’s any chance he’s going to let Michael Vick take the spotlight from him? They’d have to cut McNabb’s legs off to keep him off the field this year. McNabb would rather film another chunky soup commercial with his mom than let Vick take his starting gig.

Is there even any room for Vick on the field? The eagles have quite a few weapons these days: Brian Westbrook, LeSean McCoy, Jason Avant, Hank Baskett, Reggie Brown, Kevin Curtis, DeSean Jackson (who some think is going to explode this year) and Jeremy Maclin. Where does he fit into the equation? Now Vick is 29 years old, isn’t in football shape, and is going to have to reinvent himself if he wants to sniff the field. This whole thing could just be a ploy to increase attention to the Eagles.

Is anyone going to draft Vick in fantasy football? No way. Is he going to have any kind of impact in reality? I doubt it. Vick’s back in the NFL as a benchwarmer. Philadelphia PETA people are going crazy, but no need to worry; you won’t be seeing Vick on the field much, if at all. What’s the biggest impact he can have this year, the best case scenario? Granted he stays healthy, Andy Reid throws him on the field twice a week during the latter part of the season? He gets a touch or two per game? In his later Falcon days when he scrambled out of the pocket, he was always getting hurt.

I can see it now, on ESPN’s ticker: McNabb: 24-32, 257 yards, TD. Vick: 1 reception, 3 yards. The following week: Westbrook: 22 carries, 116 yards, TD. Vick: 1 carry, 2 yards. Maybe they’ll do some direct snaps to him, or split him out wide as a diversion. By the way, if I have to hear “wildcat offense” one more time, my head will explode, but I’m sure that’s all I’ll be hearing out of Ron Jaworski’s mouth this year. [Read more...]