Five Reasons Michael Vick Should Replace Brett Favre as Vikings QB

After watching Michael Vick play in his first preseason game of 2010, I could not help but wonder if he would be better off on the Minnesota Vikings.  

What follows are five reasons Vick should be traded to the purple and gold.

1 - Michael Vick is better than Tavaris Jackson

With all due respect to Tavaris Jackson, it is pretty obvious that the entire Minnesota Vikings are praying Brett Favre comes back.  

In fact, there is really nothing about Tavaris's game that indicates he is Minnesota's 'quarterback of the future' other than his raw athletic ability.   

Michael Vick may have lost a step and he may never have the with-it-ness to ever be a reliable starter, but his body of work and current status is better than Jackson's.

2 - Michael Vick knows the West Coast offense

Trading Vick to Minnesota would not require him to learn new verbiage.  He has played in the West Coast offense his entire career and coach "Chilly" employs his own variant of the same system.

Vick would be able to pick it up fairly quickly and he could follow in Favre's footsteps by coming into camp midway through the preseason without missing a beat.

Now that Vick is in better football shape and had a year in Reid's system, it should be a smooth transition. 

3 - A trade would benefit both teams

During the offseason, Vick had indicated all along that he would love to start for an NFL team.   He stayed consistent with these comments without ever stating explicitly that he wanted a trade.  

In February he told Yahoo Sports!, "My agent is just trying to get an understanding on what we thought was the best-case scenario and how we should approach the situation in regards to being respectful, We thought that was important. We didn’t put a timetable on it but it should happen pretty soon. So, we’ll see."

Conflicting reports surfaced on whether or not Philadelphia would comply, but they eventually went on record to state he was going to stay an Eagle.

However, if Vick can show in the preseason that he has improved from last year, his trade value might go up and a trade might appeal to Joe Banner and Co. 

It also doesn't hurt that Reid and Childress are old pals.

4 - Philadelphia almost lost Michael Vick for nothing

Nothing in the way of punishment came from the summer shooting incident because Vick was cleared of any wrongdoing (other than being a bonehead), but the Eagles surely got a scare. 

Owner Jeffrey Lurie recently commented on the issue in his yearly "state of the Eagles address" and said,

"When Michael had his birthday party, which was a mistake for him to be at, there were since four independent investigations of Michael's activities, so I was very anxious to hear from the NFL, from our own people, from the state of Virginia, from the probation people. And my own feeling, even though I'm supportive of Michael and how's he's been as a teammate and a community person for this team, if any of those four investigations have turned up any wrongdoing, there would have been no tolerance for that."

It is hard for most people to comprehend how Vick can put himself in that situation given how fragile his situation is, but Lurie makes it pretty clear that Vick has no room for error.  

Instead of wondering if the other shoe will drop, a trade now could ensure a return on their investment.

5 - Vikings fans would go along with it

Face it, if the Vikings can accept and embrace Brett Favre, then they can do the same with Michael Vick.

Brett Favre punished Minnesota for more years than they care to remember when he was a member of Green Bay, but at the end of the day, the NFL is all about winning.  

Regardless of how fans feel about Vick's prior transgressions, if he can help the Vikings win games, his jersey sales will go through the roof.

I guess the only remaining question is...

How's Brett's ankle, Dr. Andrews?