Vick

[DBuc]

My bad...Reeves was fired in mid-season just before McKay came over...That one is on Arthur Blank.  McKay was the one to hire Mora, however (and bypass Lovie Smith and Charlie Weiss)...

[bradentonian]

It would be interesting to see if the Falcons could get Vick some snaps at WR with Schaub at QB.  If Vick could catch and learn not to fumble, he'd be very dangerous out in space.

[BucsGuru]

You would think the national media would be all over this.  But they want because it's the annointed one Vick.  Anyone else flick off fans, it would be all over ESPN, etc.

[karen anderson]

Doesn't he make waay too much money for another position?  I bet his ego vetoes that.

[bradentonian]

From Kffl:

Falcons | Vick releases statement regarding exchange with fans
Sun, 26 Nov 2006 18:18:44 -0800

Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick has released a statement regarding his exchange with fans after the team's Week 12 loss to the New Orleans Saints. The statement read: "First and foremost, I would like to apologize for my inappropriate actions with fans today. I was frustrated and upset at how the game was going for my team, and that frustration came out the wrong way. That's not what I'm about. That's not what the Atlanta Falcons are about. I simply lost my cool in the heat of the moment. I apologize and look forward to putting this incident behind me."

 

[bradentonian]

Doesn't he make waay too much money for another position? I bet his ego vetoes that.

They are paying him one way or the other, so it would be nice for them to at least get some use out of him if they decide to play a real QB.  Better to use all that money for him to play WR than to sit on the bench.

[bradentonian]

From Pastabelly's article on the "Vick flip":

It didn't take much prodding for Vick to all but acknowledge after the game that the countless drops by his receivers this season are beginning to frustrate him.

"It is tough," Vick said. "I am just doing my job by giving guys the chance to have some success. And somewhere along the line, guys are going to have to start catching the ball and making some plays."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=2676827

This guy needs to quit pointing fingers at the WRs, the coach, and the fans (well, one finger, anyway), and take a hard look in the mirror.

[Tampa Bay Todd]

Well, to be fair to Vick (and it pains me to do that) he got absolutely drilled on a blitz, but hung in there long enough to throw a duck to about the 5-yard line. The Falcons receiver stopped the route and came back but the Saints CB kept on running so the Falcons guy was WIDE OPEN and a sure TD. He then proceeded to just plain drop it. Hit him right in the hands. That's inexcusable.

[karen anderson]

Didn't want Vick cooties if you know what I mean.

you mean herpes? That's a christmas gift your love one can't take back!

[karen anderson]

The gift that keeps on giving.

[bradentonian]

ZNot so easy with that contact--how much of it will Atl be on the hook for? Besides, you can't demand a trade.

I think the Falcons would be on the hook for about a $25-$30MM cap hit if they traded or released Vick this offseason, which means it is highly unlikely.

PFT Reports $22.25MM, but it goes way down after June 1st:

VICK TRADE COULD BE PULLED OFF, AFTER JUNE 1

Although we saw images of an apparently contrite Michael Vick apologizing for the images of an obscene gesture he aimed in the direction of paying customers and their kids on Sunday at the Georgia Dome, the broader question remains, as we see it, whether Vick's time in Atlanta is drawing to a close.

We predicted, even before Vick's meltdown, that he'll ask to be traded after the 2006 season.  But the prevailing sentiment in league circles is that the Falcons would be unable to trade or release Vick, due to the salary cap ramifications arising from the big-money signing bonus he received a couple of years ago.

We've gotten our eyes on his numbers, and the prevailing sentiment is accurate.  To a point.

Trading Vick before June 1, 2007 would trigger a mind-numbing cap charge of $22.25 million.  The dead money, factoring in the $6 million salary Vick wouldn't be paid in 2007, would be $15.75 million.

However, if the Falcons were to make the move after June 1, the cap charge for 2007 would drop to $7.57 million, with a net hit of $1.57 million.  The transaction would actually create $6 million in 2007 cap space.

The problem would arise in 2008, when the Falcons would be hit with $14.68 million in cap charges.  The dead money, based on a Vick's salary of $7.5 million, would be $7.18 million.

Still, if the salary cap gets to $115 million by 2008, the dead money would be roughly six percent of the team's available player payroll for the season.  And by 2009, he'd be completely off of the books.

So if Vick wants out, and if the team is willing to let him out, a trade would be feasible after June 1. 

(Greg Aiello, NFL spokesman, tells us that, although the new CBA allows the cap hit for a trade made after June 1 to be spread over two years, the rule that allows teams to release up to two players before June 1 and process the move as a post-June 1 transaction does not apply to trades.)

Of course, the bigger question would be whether anyone else would willing to take on Vick's contract, which has salaries of $6 million in 2007, $7.5 million in 2008, $9 million in 2009, $10.5 million in 2010, $12 million in 2011, $12.5 million in 2012, and $13.5 million in 2013.

Our guess?  There's a certain team that wears silver and black with an owner who has always loved renegade players (especially really fast ones).  How about Randy Moss and a third-round pick for Vick?  Moss has said wanted to come to Atlanta in 2005, and we believe that the team wasn't interest in Moss primarily because they weren't interested in creating a scenario in which, with a high-end receiver, Vick would have been further exposed as an underperforming passer.

With Matt Schaub elevating into the position of starter, Moss is the kind of guy that the Falcons would want on the field, especially in a West Coast attack that thrives off of a field-stretcher who can open up the underneath routes.

And from a P.R. standpoint, the Falcons would be swapping out one NFL icon for another.  So the seats in the Georgia Dome would still be filled, at least for 2007.

Like many other things, this one makes far too much sense to ever happen.   

I can almost see giving Peyton that kind of money, but not Vick! That's plain stupid.

Vick has the owner and the team wrapped around his finger...its not about him wanting to be traded. Its Vick wanting another coach

[coqui4]

I agree, the WR aren't the problem. Put yourselves in the WR shoes. You're running routes half the time for practically no reason. Just to run these routes, have Vick run for it and the WR have to block. Thats all they are, they're linemen down the field. And whenever they do have the ball thrown to them, the WR are so shocked that they forgot what to do with the ball, that is if the ball is actually thrown anywhere near them. The majority of the time the ball Vick throws is nowhere near them.