It’s like a bad bug bite…once it occurs, you have the initial irritation of the bite, but slowly over time it begins to just hang around and itch, and continues to irritate long after the initial event occurred.  The Michael Vick saga is in a ways a lot like that to me: a bug bite on the sports map that despite its occurrence almost 2 years ago, it still manages to stay around in the media and itch and bug the piss out of me.

The newest chapter of the sage occurred last week when the Eagles decided to sign Vick to a 2 year deal.  Before I get to the actual football side of the argument, let me make my case for why I think Vick deserves a second chance and deserves to be back in the league.  While I in no way condone dog fighting, the fiasco that people are making out of this situation is just amazing in my mind.  For starters, the man SERVED HIS TIME; he didn’t just do 18 months of house arrest or probation, the man went to HARDCORE FEDERAL PRISON.  Not only did he lose that chunk of time in his life, he also lost roughly 100 million dollars in contract and endorsement money.  For the sake of the argument, Michael Vick essentially ruined his career at that point, and rightfully so, considering he not only was harming dogs willingly, but breaking federal laws by conducting a dogfighting ring across multiple state lines.  So it still amazes me that people continue to gripe that Michael Vick has not suffered enough or received enough punishment for his crimes; last time I checked Donte Stallworth killed a HUMAN BEING while driving drunk (which is a whole different topic for another article) and yet he only served 24 days in prison and is only being suspended for a year by Roger Goddell.  I will never understand people’s love for animals that exceeds their love and compassion for people of their own kind.  Again, while I don’t condone his actions, the fact remains that people are trying to crucify a man who, when compared to other current and former members of the NFL, has done a lot less in the eyes of the law, and yet they are still allowed to play in the NFL.  The man is entitled to make a living, and at this point his best way to make a living is as a football player.  I also think that it cannot be overlooked that Tony Dungy has been working with Vick as a counselor and mentor and has given the stamp of approval on Vick’s return.  With Tony Dungy, anything that man endorses can be seen as genuine and heartfelt, and if he feels like Vick is a rehabilitated man, then I think all of us should as well.  In the end, every man deserves a second chance, and while I agree that a lot of times pro athletes get too many passes for irresponsible behavior, in this situation I think that Vick deserves it.

Now in looking at the actual football side of this move, I first want to laugh at the Minnesota Vikings for passing up on the opportunity to create the most disgusting option/wildcat offense possible with the three headed hydra that would have been Vick, Adrian Peterson, and Percy Harvin; that combination would have forced my hand to get DirectTv just so that I could watch every Vikings game.  Anyways, I think that this is a fantastic move for the Eagles.  First off, everybody’s first gut reaction is that Donovan McNabb will get offended at the notion of bringing another QB in, and that McNabb will feel like Vick is breathing down his neck at the first sign of struggle; to me that is total bull.  When looking at Vick’s numbers before he was suspended, he was a mediocre passer at best; in fact his last season in the league Vick only completed 52.6% of his passes with  20 TDs and 13 INTS; for his career, Vick has completed only 53.8% of his passes with no season over 3,000 yds passing.  The fact remains that while Vick plays the QB position, he is much more of a threat when teams cannot anticipate what he is going to do and thus either stack the box or play man on the receivers, which makes him the perfect offensive twist that Philly has been missing.  The Eagles are an established team with some great offensive pieces (McNabb, Westbrook, DeSean Jackson), with Vick coming in to throw another wrinkle for defenses to not be able to scheme for.  Imagine for a second an offensive set in which both McNabb and Vick line up behind center, and the defense never knows which one will receive the hike, and also will never know whether they will throw or run (remember too that at one point in his career McNabb was a very mobile QB that could scramble out of the pocket); add the fact that Westbrook is a phenomenal receiver out of the backfield, and the deep threat of DeSean Jackson, and to me that adds up to the most potent and difficult offense to scheme for in the NFL.

While the “itch” of this story will resonate for a majority of the season, thanks in large majority to ESPN’s eagerness to saturate us to the brim with the same story, the fact that the experience is back in the league is an exciting and fresh twist to the upcoming NFL season, and I for one will do my best to steal him away from SharpShooter in the later rounds of our fantasy football draft.

Related posts:

1. Vick and Favre: Can they Both Return to Greatness
2. NFL, Arrests, and Justice