Michael Vick to Buffalo in 2013?
Where will Michael Vick play in 2013?
According to a recent Yahoo! column by Jason Cole, the Buffalo Bills could express serious interest in Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick following the 2012 season. I’d have to agree, as I broke down where Vick might go earlier in the year, and listed Buffalo as one of the top five destinations for Vick. I also listed Arizona, New York and Cleveland, three teams Coles also notes are possibilities.
The Jets would be the media storm we all love to cover and the Browns would just be funny, while the Cardinals just don’t deserve him at this point. Buffalo, on the other hand, should they retain head coach Chan Gailey, might be the perfect place for Vick to get his career going again. After all, Gailey loves working with athletic quarterbacks, as you can tell from his offensive days at Georgia Tech, and even going all the way back to when he worked with Kordell Stewart in Pittsburgh. Vick would be by far the best talent he’s ever worked with, however, while Vick would also be an immediate and arguably massive upgrade over the erratic Ryan Fitzpatrick.
The thing with Vick in 2012, is that he’s gotten way too much of the blame for a team that has holes just about anywhere you can possibly have holes. Their defense has been shaky all year, they fired a defensive coordinator that had no real experience with defense, and they never did enough to fix a god awful offensive line. In fact, that horrible offensive line is a huge reason why Vick had to press so much. It led to panicked play, fumbles, and bad passes.
Obviously Vick has to shoulder some of the blame, but he’s still a starting quarterback in this league, and at 32 and being out of the league for two years, he still has time to give to the game.
There’s also the idea that once (not if) Andy Reid gets canned, Vick could actually remain in Philly. The Eagles would still have one of the most explosive offenses in the league, with their main problem being their offensive line and maybe coaching Vick up a bit more on his decision-making. Personally, I think all of the problems stem from the o-line here, and the minute the Eagles spend some draft picks and money on making this area a strength, they can get back to their winning ways. Whether or not the next guy that comes into Philly decides Vick should be a part of that remains to be determined, but it’s still a distinct possibility.
I’m saying no to Vick going to the Browns. Cleveland drafted Brandon Weeden, and even though he’s 85 and looks more like an accountant than a pro football player, he’s still flashed enough as a first-year player to stick with. The new Cleveland regime may not think so, but he still has time to change their mind.
I’m ruling out the Chiefs, too. Kansas City does need a quarterback and isn’t as far away from competing as some think, but they’ll start over from scratch (as they probably should). They’ve been leaning on veterans to take over for years (Joe Montana, Steve Bono, Trent Green), and finally need to draft a franchise passer. New York can’t be completely ruled out, but they’re a far away dark horse in my mind because they’re such a circus. However, Mark Sanchez being guaranteed over $8 million next year would cause major problems.
For me, that leaves Buffalo, Arizona, or Vick staying put in Philly. Arizona makes a ton of sense for both sides, but if there’s one offensive line in the NFL that is probably even worse than Philly’s, it’s Arizona’s. I highly doubt Vick will take a pay-cut to go somewhere else to go through the same crap. Playing with Larry Fitzgerald will be tempting, but it’s not that much of a chance.
I agree with Cole that the Bills make the most sense if Vick leaves Philly. I’ll rank them Buffalo, Arizona, and Philly, with the Jets as a slight dark horse, simply because you never know what they’ll do next. But if all of the speculation tells us anything, it’s really that the Vick saga isn’t over in Philadelphia just yet. This won’t be on the scale of Brett Favre leaving Green Bay or Peyton Manning leaving Indy, but something tells me it’ll be a while before the dust settles on the Vick talk.
