Everyone's Been Wondering About Michael Vick, And Now They'll Find Out

It was March, and people were wondering about Michael Vick.

The season before, he did not beat out Geno Smith for the dubious privilege of quarterbacking the Jets. He received three November starts and lost two of them. His 68.3 passer rating was his worst since he had become a starter in Atlanta all those years ago. 

It was part of a larger trend, as he now had lost 12 of his last 15 starts. The Jets were the second team to let him walk in one year. Archival film, it seemed, would be the only way to witness his legendary magic again.

One of his neighbors in South Florida, former NFL wide receiver Chris Chambers, had been pestering Vick for more than a year to come work out at his football training facility, The Chamber. Vick would be 35 in June, and he knew he no longer could rely on his body the way he once did.

Vick, stunningly, never had taken part in a structured offseason workout program. But he decided to check out The Chamber one day in March. Then he came back. At first, it was once per week. Then twice, then three or four times. The more he did it, the more he liked it and what it was doing to him as an athlete.

"He wasn't all the way bought in at first," Chambers said. "He told me he didn't have an offseason workout program in the past. He just relied on his natural athletic ability. He would go to OTAs and work his way into camp shape. So we had to pull him a little, stay on top of him. I sent texts to him, meal plans, therapy teams. We added some strength stuff he didn't do previously. We saw improvement."

It was mostly functional football training. Vick went through his quarterback drops using resistance from a VertiMax on his legs and arms. He threw a heavy football. There were hurdle drills, and on the first day he knocked over three or four hurdles.

Working out of a 50-play playbook, Vick went through OTA-style practices with high school players, college players and some pros, including Jaguars receiver Rashad Greene, Browns fullback Malcolm Johnson and Redskins cornerback Quinton Dunbar.

Oliver Bozeman, a quarterback specialist at The Chamber, worked with Vick on mechanics. In the past, Vick used to hold the ball with his entire hand touching leather. Chambers said Vick changed his grip so a pencil could fit between his palm and the football. He also changed the height of his delivery.

March became August, and people still were wondering about Michael Vick.

The main wave of free agency passed with no interest. Then the second wave. There were no calls through the post-draft activity. OTAs came and went. Then minicamps. And the start of training camp.

Among the veteran quarterbacks who were signed by new teams to be backups instead of Vick were Matt Cassel, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Matt Flynn (by two teams), Rex Grossman, Josh Johnson, Mike Kafka, Case Keenum, Thaddeus Lewis, Ryan Lindley, Christian Ponder, Matt Schaub, Tyrod Taylor, Tim Tebow and Joe Webb.

In late July, Vick took to Twitter to send a message:

The perception of diminished skills contributed to the lack of opportunities. There were other factors, too. No. 2 quarterbacks usually come from the same cookie cutters. Vick is very different.

"He is not exactly what you look for in a No. 2," one general manager said. "People look for upside in a backup. He is what he is."

He is a lefty. He never has been a highly proficient pocket passer. His ability to read defenses has been questioned. He might need an offense that is tailored to his unusual abilities.

"His skill set probably is different from your starting quarterback's skill set, so he might not fit what you do offensively," a pro scouting director said.

The other problem is he was, is and always will be Vick. Even though he no longer is the same player, few quarterbacks have a larger presence. It is not a stretch to assume that a number of NFL starting quarterbacks once had posters of the four-time Pro Bowler on their bedroom walls. Vick could only make sense in a certain situation—on a contending team with a firmly established starter.

Vick engenders more public reaction than perhaps any player in the league, mostly because he was involved in a dog-fighting ring and subsequently served a 19-month prison term starting in 2007. Two front-office men said they did not believe that was a factor in Vick's difficulty getting a job.

"The dog-fighting thing might linger for some people, but most people realize he was a kid who made a big mistake," the pro scouting director said. "He paid his dues, and now he's a football player. I wouldn't think the majority of teams were influenced by that."

In 2012, the Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Vick's criminal past dissuaded the Steelers from pursuing him after he was released from prison six years ago, but it did not dissuade them this time. They asked him to come to Pittsburgh for a workout on Aug. 25 after it became apparent the injured shoulder of backup quarterback Bruce Gradkowski was not healing quickly enough. Players of Vick's stature usually don't have to work out to prove themselves, but he was in no position to object.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and offensive coordinator Todd Haley stood in back of Vick as he threw passes on the field behind the UPMC Sports Performance Complex. Long passes. Hard passes. Beautiful passes. Their nods said it all.

"It didn't take long to see he could still throw it," Haley said. "He throws the ball with anybody. That ball gets Point A to Point B as fast as I've seen. Like a dart. And he gets it out quick. It's exciting to watch him throw it. He's a pure arm thrower. A lot of times guys like that wind up. He doesn't."

Four days later, on Vick's first play from scrimmage in a preseason game against the Bills, the rest of the world saw what Haley and Tomlin had seen. Vick faked a handoff, set up in the pocket and let loose a magnificent 63-yard bomb without so much as a hint of strain.

At the moment the football settled into the hands of Martavis Bryant, it became clear that all of Vick's effort at The Chamber was worth it. 

"What is impressive is he never stopped working in the offseason even though the right opportunity didn't come along as quickly as we thought," his agent Joel Segal of Lagardere Unlimited said. "He knew he would have to be ready."

August became October—people still were wondering about Michael Vick. Against the Rams last Sunday, Ben Roethlisberger suffered a sprained MCL. It was estimated he would miss four to six weeks. If the Steelers were going to have a chance of challenging the Patriots for supremacy in the AFC, they were going to need a solid month from the player nobody wanted.

Vick has playmakers all around him and a stable of running backs who can carry the load, which would suggest his role will be modest. But this is Michael Vick, the first pick of the 2001 draft, the flesh-and-blood quarterback with the video game moves. He has a QB-record 6,005 career rushing yards, or more than 1,000 rushing yards more than the next closest player. Even last season, he ran for 69 yards in a game. So temptation may be there for the Steelers to draw upon Vick's athleticism, diminished as it may be.

Besides, the mentality of a caretaker might not come naturally to Vick. 

"Every place he's been, he was expected to be the catalyst," the pro scouting director said. "That's what changed. They need him to be a game manager, to dink and dunk and not put them in trouble."

For one game, at least, there seems to be no choice but a conservative approach. The Steelers will face the Ravens on Thursday with only three days to prepare. And Vick's previous preparation has been limited.

Haley said prior to Roethlisberger's injury that Vick had been getting seven or eight reps during practice periods, in addition to leading the scout-team offense. He also said Antonio Brown, the great receiver who had caught thousands of passes from Roethlisberger, had caught only one or two practice passes from Vick prior to this week.

Instead of the usual Steelers game plan, which features about 100 plays, the plan is to go with about 50 this week. Haley said he is trying to feature what Vick does best and is most comfortable with.

Tom Gannam/Associated Press

Vick has a lot to be thankful for in his career. Now, given his long offseason, he may be more appreciative than ever.

"It's a great opportunity for me, because I don't know if I will have this opportunity ever again," Vick told reporters Tuesday. "Just a month ago I was waiting to sign with a team. Now I feel like I have a chance to go out and play freely and enjoy the game, enjoy this moment and be out there with my teammates. God has put this in front of me and it's up to me to handle it like a professional. This is something I look forward to doing."

After Roethlisberger was injured in St. Louis, Vick took the field. He was sacked on consecutive fourth-quarter plays. The Rams defense had worked itself into a frenzy. The volume in the Edward Jones Dome kept rising. Chaos swirled on the sidelines as Steelers coaches desperately tried to find a way to protect a six-point lead with a quarterback who had not been given the opportunity to prepare adequately. Many fall apart in moments like these.

It was crunch time, and Haley was wondering about Michael Vick.

With the Rams driving, Haley sat next to Vick on the bench. He turned to ask a question, unsure what the answer would be. "Are you happy you came back?" he said, raising his voice to be heard above the din.

"Hell yes," Vick said without pausing to think. "This is why I came."

Dan Pompei covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.