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The Eagles have Vick under contract through 2015, after all. But he’s due $15.5 million in base salary next season and the team is unlikely to want to retain him at that figure if he is to compete with Nick Foles for the starting quarterback job or be the emergency backup.
Would Vick be willing to renegotiate his contract?
He declined to speculate on such a premise earlier this week, but an NFL source familiar with the quarterback’s thinking told McLane that Vick would not restructure his deal.
The Eagles have a decision to make on Vick by Feb. 6. If they release him before that date they will be off the hook for a guaranteed $3 million that kicks in three days after the Super Bowl.
If they decided to keep Vick, they have several options. They could try to trade him, but if he was averse to re-working his contract then it would be difficult for the Eagles to find a team willing to pay such a hefty salary for a 32-year old that has missed 11 games over the three seasons because of injury.
The Eagles could be content to keep Vick around through training camp just in case Foles does not develop as they had hoped. If they believed Foles was ready then they could simply cut Vick before the season and eat the $3 million.
If the Eagles think Foles isn’t ready they’ll have Vick to fall back on. The problem with that approach is that the team would be unlikely to keep Vick’s $15.5 million salary and remain under the cap unless they had significant space set aside or were willing to clear space just before the season.
As McLane suggests, both scenarios are unlikely if Vick refused to re-negotiate his contract.
On Friday, Vick was asked if wanted to return.
“I have to just sit back and think about what has transpired and look at the situation as a whole,” he said. “Of course, you would like to come back and play. I love the organization and I love what they’ve done for me. … But if not, it’s been wonderful and I understand the nature of this business. At some point, we all got to move on.”
Why would the Eagles want to keep Vick?
For one, Foles is still an unknown. The rookie started in six games, made some improvement, and showed that he was capable of competing at this level. But he also displayed some bad tendencies during his 1-5 span as the starter.
Vick said that he wants to start next season.
“I can’t see myself not being a starter right now,” he said. “I just feel like I have too much talent and too much to offer.”
Meanwhile, some wonder if the hiring of Chip Kelly in Philadelphia take Foles out of the quarterback equation?
Ron Jaworski seems to think so.
“Nick Foles will not run a Chip Kelly offense if he decided to come here, rest assured of that,” Jaworski said this week. “If a coach like Chip Kelly. ... That runs this up-tempo, spread, speed-style option, these guys come here, there might be a future for Michael Vick. I know he’s [32], I know he’s been beat up, but I’ll tell you, some of the things I’m seeing, Michael Vick can do the same things these guys are doing in the spread option.”
CBSSports.com's Jason La Canfora says that the Eagles will be in pursuit of the Oregon coach.
The Eagles won’t be the only team to contact Kelly, but league sources expect them to be among the first to try to interview him and believe he could emerge as a quick favorite for the position.
That being the case, recent reports have suggested Vick might be more interested in sticking around if Kelly is coach.