What looked perfectly clear at the end of last season seems a bit more complicated now. While most would agree that Michael Vick has no future with the Philadelphia Eagles, certain aspects of his contract might push the team to hold on to the quarterback a little bit longer.
It’s not just a matter of money, although a lot of it has to do. By not cutting Vick entering February 7, the Eagles are now forced to pay Vick $3 million of his $15.5 in 2013. Yet, they have a way of getting that $3 million back. How? They can still release him up until March 12 and not have to pay him the money, as long as he signs somewhere else for at least that much. In other words, if the Eagles cut Vick in the next 34 days and he doesn’t find another team, they’ll owe him $3 million. If Vick still finds another team but doesn’t get paid that much on his new contract, the Eagles still owe him $3 million.
A risk worth taking? Probably. There are plenty of teams that need a quarterback, and while Vick’s 2012 season, cut short to 10 games (the Eagles going 3-7 when he started) wasn’t the stuff head coaches dream about when thinking about the ideal quarterback, it’s hard to see him not getting a starting job somewhere, although not for the kind of money he was going to be paid this season.
There are those who thinks is the most suitable man to run Chip Kelly’s new offense, but that’s assuming sticks to the exact same game plan he had in College, which is probably not the case. There’s also this perception that Kelly needs a running quarterback to make his plans come to life, but Vick isn’t that good of a runner anymore (averaging 5 yards per carry last season) and it’s more about the ability to make decisions and fast than having to be a great rusher.
Unless Vick changes his mind and mentality, doing something exceptional in the very near future to impress Kelly, he’s not staying with the Philadelphia Eagles, not with that contract. A trade is out of the question, which leaves cutting him on a later date as the only reasonable option. Still, things don’t happen according to reason in life, and in the NFL.