Fantasy Football Rankings 2011: Breaking Down Michael Vick as No. 1 Pick

No one player in the history of fantasy football has sparked as much conversation and debate as Michael Vick. The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback comes into the 2011 NFL season as the biggest wild card in a long time, at least from a virtual perspective.

A resurgent 2010 campaign made amateur prospectors look like geniuses and vaulted Vick to the top of fantasy draft boards far and wide for 2011. However, there remains plenty of trepidation among football fanatics concerning whether or not he should be the first player chosen overall in a ordered draft or the most expensive player in an auction format. 

Can he stay healthy for a full season? Will he wear down in December? Can the Eagles' ramshackle offensive line keep Vick upright?

These are all legitimate concerns and counterweights to Vick's near-assured superstardom. With the issue of picking Vick being as divisive as it is, let's have a look at the pros and cons of betting the house on Philly's latest football hero.

Pros

During an appearance on Bill Simmons' podcast this past week, ESPN fantasy football expert Matthew Berry put the pro-Vick argument like this: if you take Vick and he does what he did in 12 games last year over the course of 16 games, you win your league.

It's that simple.

In those 12 games, Vick completed a career-best 62.6 percent of his passes for 3,018 yards and 21 touchdowns and added another 676 yards and nine scores on the ground.

Extrapolate that over another four games, and you're talking about one of the greatest fantasy football seasons of all time, right up there with Tom Brady's 50-touchdown campaign in 2007.

That's the sort of point-earning potential we're talking about with Vick in 2011.

At present, ESPN projects that Vick will bring in the second-most points of any player, behind only Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and that Vick will actually earn fewer points this season than he did last.

Yet, there are plenty of reasons to believe that Vick will not only leave Rodgers in the dust, but also his own performance from 2010. For one, Vick comes into the 2011 season as the Eagles' unquestioned Week 1 starter as opposed to being Kevin Kolb's backup, which he was last time around. That means more opportunities in more games, and thus more points, for the incomparable Mike Vick.

Vick's affirmation as the Eagles' starter has also allowed head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg to tailor the team's offense more to their quarterback's particular talents. Part of what made Vick's performance in 2010 so impressive was the fact that he did what he did in a scheme designed for Kevin Kolb, who is much more of a strict pocket passer.

Vick, on the other hand, is much more versatile, with the ability to scramble outside of the pocket and make plays with his arm and his feet while on the run. That doesn't necessarily mean that the Eagles will simply have Vick run on every play, but rather that they'll probably throw in more play-action passes and spice up their toss-heavy attack with more plays designed to take advantage of Vick's mobility.

Thus, expect Vick to be more comfortable under center in Philly now that he's had almost a full season to get re-acclimated to starting duty in the NFL and is in an offense built for him rather than a guy who currently starts in Arizona.

And if you're worried about Reid going all spread-option on you with Vick's legs, don't be. The Eagles have been a top-10 passing offense every year since 2003 and, with the likes of DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, LeSean McCoy, Brent Celek and (eventually) Steve Smith hauling in balls from Vick, expect that fantasy-friendly streak to continue.

In a nutshell, then, Michael Vick should be your No. 1 pick because he'll be playing for a full season in a tailor-made offense with more weapons at his disposal than the US Army and with a new-found confidence in his own abilities to dominate at the highest level after doing so last season.

Cons

That being said, there are no shortage of legitimate concerns to consider when pondering Vick as your go-for-broke choice.

The first is Philly's offensive line. Eagles quarterbacks were sacked a whopping 49 times last season, the fourth-most of any team's signal-callers in the league. Vick, in particular, suffered through 9.1 sacks per 100 attempts, placing him behind only Jay Cutler, Jimmy Clausen and Jason Campbell for the title of most frequently sacked quarterback in the NFL.

Luckily for Mike, his name doesn't start with a "J."

Things could be even worse this time around, as Philly will be sporting a completely revamped front five.

And while that may seem like a good thing, given how poorly last year's group performed, getting a new helping of hogs to jell is no easy task. Good lines are built, not bought. The Eagles proved as much in the preseason, as their line proved to be about as good at stopping opposing pass rushers as the Great Wall of China was in deterring the Mongolians from invading.

That doesn't bode well for Vick, whose play last season suffered down the stretch as a result of the beating he took under center. All those hits left Vick with myriad rib and quad injuries as the season dragged on.

What's more, opposing teams will know full-well going into the 2011 season what took them some time to figure out in 2010—that Vick is something less than superhuman when pressured by the blitz. As such, expect defenses to throw everything but the kitchen sink at Vick early and often to keep him out of his rhythm and stuck to the turf by the seat of his pants.

And if that weren't enough to turn you off from Vick, here's one last bit that'll leave you cringing: he's 31, meaning this could be the year that his age starts to show, that his body struggles to recover from bumps and bruises as quickly as it used to.

The sorts of bumps and bruises that the reckless abandon with which Vick so often plays leaves behind.

Verdict

 Overall, you should still probably take Vick if and when you have the chance. The guy is absolutely electric when healthy and is the only player in all of fantasy football with the potential to singlehandedly win your league for you.

If you're concerned that an injury to Vick would leave you without any quality contingencies at quarterback, don't be. The NFL will be as deep as it's ever been with fantasy-friendly signal-callers, which should leave you with some good options to pick up in later rounds. Heck, even a guy like Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy, whose been compared favorably to Josh Freeman of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, grades out as the 25th- or 26th-best fantasy passer but has the potential for a breakout season in Pat Shurmur's offense.

Even if the well of quarterbacks were to run dry, the potential reward associated with selecting Vick is so great that it outweighs the risk involved by a long shot.

Long story short, if you want to win your fantasy league, make sure you have Michael Vick on your team.

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