What If . . . the Philadelphia Eagles Had Never Signed Michael Vick?

Michael Vick takes a lot of heat for his poor decisions, his proneness to injury and his lack of consistency, but it's easy to forget that few expected Vick to ever become a starting quarterback again when the Philadelphia Eagles took a chance on him back in the summer of 2009.

So to help Eagles fans appreciate Vick's presence, let's go off on some wacky tangents and speculate on what might have happened had the team stayed away from Vick that August, as many thought they should have.

Obviously, there's a near-infinite number of potential hypothetical scenarios to be explored here. These are just some of the more likely possibilities. 

Scenario 1: Donovan McNabb finishes his career in Philadelphia

McNabb didn't have a bad 2009 season, but he again failed to deliver in the playoffs, and the team obviously felt as though the window had closed with him. But would the Eagles have traded their longtime franchise quarterback to Washington without Vick on the roster? 

I know they also had a lot of faith in Kevin Kolb, who was named the starting quarterback after McNabb was traded, but I'm still not sure that trade would have happened if Vick weren't also on the team. 

Had they kept McNabb to battle Kolb for the starting job in 2010, McNabb, then 33, might have responded differently than he did to his new role in Washington. Regardless, the Eagles would have clearly been worse off with a Kolb/McNabb combo in 2010. 

Plus, they wouldn't have had Washington's 2010 second-round pick to use on safety Nate Allen, who had a solid rookie season and is now a starter. 

Scenario 2: Kevin Kolb takes over as starter in 2010

Maybe the Eagles cut ties with McNabb regardless, meaning Allen is still drafted to make an early impact and Kolb hangs onto the starting job. Based on his mediocre performances as Vick's backup in 2010, Kolb likely would have been a one-year starter for Philly.

And that's why this would be the worst-case scenario. Because with Kolb having a proper chance to embarrass himself in 2010, the Eagles wouldn't have been able to flip him to Arizona in exchange for promising young cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a draft pick that essentially ended up landing them new rookie corner Brandon Boykin. 

In other words, an already weak secondary might have been quite a lot worse if not for Vick's success in Philadelphia.

In this scenario, the Eagles are also probably forced to spend a top-end pick (or a package of picks) on a quarterback in either the 2011 or 2012 draft. In other words, there's almost no way Fletcher Cox is on the roster, and there's a very decent chance Danny Watkins and Mychal Kendricks aren't either.

The worst part about both Scenario 1 and Scenario 2

Both leave the Eagles without a franchise quarterback after the 2010 season. Instead, the presence of Vick gave the team the luxury to chase big-name free agents like Nnamdi Asomugha, Jason Babin and Cullen Jenkins last summer. Do those players come to a team without a franchise quarterback like Vick?

Additionally, do guys like DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy and Trent Cole sign on long term without a franchise quarterback in place?

My best-guess scenario

They trade McNabb but keep Kolb, who flops. They spend a 2011 first-round pick on a guy like Jake Locker or Christian Ponder. Because of the shaky quarterback situation, they fail to reel in guys like Asomugha, Babin and Jenkins in free agency last summer and spend the season rebuilding. 

And under this scenario, Andy Reid probably isn't the head coach in 2012.

Look, Vick struggled a bit in 2011, but his near-MVP 2010 campaign was crucial enough that it probably changed the path of the franchise for years to come. It inspired the front office to take more chances on the open market and in the draft, which is the reason they now have the most loaded roster in football.

It's amazing what a team can do without having to focus on finding its next quarterback. The Eagles probably didn't imagine Vick would emerge again as an elite signal caller when they took that chance on him in 2009, but the risk has paid off spectacularly.