Ask yourself this question: If Tom Brady or Peyton Manning were in the exact same situation Michael Vick finds himself in -- trying to come back from a two-year layoff, a prison sentence, a tarnished image and being guilty in the toughest court of all, the court of public opinion -- would they be signed by an NFL team right now?
Several NFL personnel people, coaches and players I polled with that question over the past couple of weeks all had the same answer that you probably do.
Absolutely.
"It would take an hour for them to get a job," said one NFL general manager.
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Vick signed Thursday with the Philadelphia Eagles, and as he did, the biggest issue in his return to the NFL is what he is on the football field. It's the ability, or lack of, to play quarterback the way teams want it played, which is to scan the field, make reads and find open receivers.
Too many people were getting caught up in the off-the-field issues when constantly asking why Vick wasn't signed. It wasn't about that.
It was about football, pure and simple.
I have a theory that if a felon such as O.J. Simpson was to get released on a Thursday and he could help a team on Sunday, he would be signed. Players don't care who's in the locker next to him, as long as he shows up and works and helps them win -- and make more money. Coaches rarely care either, as long as the players can help -- and make them more money.
Didn't Jimmy Johnson turn a blind eye to the wild ways of the Dallas Cowboys and their alleged weekly orgies and drug-den sessions because he needed many of those players who were involved? Didn't Bill Parcells go from a coach with questionable talent to an NFL icon in large part because he let Lawrence Taylor run wild? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Johnson and Parcells will go to the Hall of Fame and made millions thanks to their double-standard rules on discipline as it pertained to their stars?
If you can help, the rules change. It is harder now to let players skate by with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's tougher stance on off-the-field issues, but coaches want to win and they bend rules to help them do so.
So the idea that Vick would bring the circus to town -- which he would for a while with the PETA protests and the media swarm -- being the reason it took a while for him to get signed is misguided.
Many teams took a pass because he can't pass.
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"He was never that," one NFL coach said. "You had to prepare for him in different ways because he could do things with his legs, but being two years removed you have to wonder if he can do that the same way. As a passer, he wasn't very good."
That's being kind. He was terrible from an accuracy standpoint. Vick has a 53.8 completion percentage for his career. For reference sake, that's worse than such storied passers as Rex Grossman (54.2), Joey Harrington (56.1) and Patrick Ramsey (56.0).
Accuracy is vital in the current NFL, and Vick has none. Before you go throwing out some of the quarterbacks in his accuracy area code who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, just remember it's a different game now.
Yes, Johnny Unitas had a career completion percentage of 54.6, but the passing game back then wasn't the dink-and-dunk kind of today. The ball went down the field. That's why players like Unitas and Norm Van Brocklin (53.6) have completion percentages so low. Their high yards-per-attempt numbers indicate passers who threw it deep, passers who took chances and made big plays but also threw incomplete passes.
That's not the case with Vick. His per-attempt average is only 6.7 yards. He simply isn't, or hasn't been, a good passer.
Some will wonder why. He has a strong arm and he's mobile enough to evade rushers and make plays through the air, pulling up after a scramble to make a big throw.
The answer is easy. This was Mike Vick's passing progressions in Atlanta: Look outside to a receiver first, then check down to Alge Crumpler and then run. He didn't run to throw, but ran to run.
Vick was the Wildcat before the Wildcat, or the single wing after the single wing.
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| Michael Vick's arm strength was never the problem. (Getty Images) |
Goodell conditionally reinstated Vick almost a month ago after serving his 23-month sentence for his role in dog fighting. At the time, the thinking was teams would line up to sign him.
But here we are in the first full week of the preseason and it took an injury to Eagles backup Kevin Kolb to help him find a home.
Tony Dungy vouched for Vick as a changed man, which has to help the cause. The problem is Dungy can't vouch for him as a changed quarterback.
One team executive theorized to me that Vick would sign after training camps broke up in large part to avoid a circus. Camp practices are usually open to the public, so the picketers would be able to watch practice and voice their opinions.
When practices are closed, they would be relegated to picketing in front of a team's facility.
Big difference.
The Eagles broke camp Wednesday. So the theory holds true.
Now that Vick is back on technically a one-year deal with a balloon option that he'll never see, he has to show he has evolved as a man, but, more importantly, as a quarterback.
The furor surround him will pass. But can he?
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