Jan 4, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick (7) looks on as quarterback Nick Foles (9) warms up before the 2013 NFC wild card playoff football game against the New Orleans Saints at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Viking fans who are fascinated by what Michael Vick presumably still brings to the table are likely disappointed the team passed on him to sign Matt Cassel instead.
And they may not be alone in their disappointment. If you believe Peter King, Vick is down in the dumps about it too.
King told Dan Patrick (via 1500 ESPN), “I think Vick was really disappointed that Minnesota re-signed Matt Cassel. I think Michael really would have liked to have gone to Minnesota to play with Adrian Peterson, to throw the ball to Cordarrelle Patterson and Greg Jennings. And now I think he has a choice or is going to have a choice.”
This is King telling us what he thinks (or thinks he thinks, or thinks he thinks he knows or whatever his bit is). And I think I think there is probably some truth to it.
I mean look around at the options for Vick. Realistically, how many teams with potential starting openings were ever going to be in on him? Just a few. And how many of them have offensive weapons on-hand like Peterson, Patterson and Jennings (King didn’t even mention Rudolph and Wright)?
For Vick, Minnesota probably looked like an ideal landing spot. Now what is he left with? The Jets? The Raiders?
The Vikings were Vick’s best chance to go in, lock down a starting job with a minimum of stress and actually have a shot at success, with good players around him plus Norv Turner running the offense.
He even had Adrian Peterson stumping for him, but that wasn’t enough. The Vikings went back to the safe choice of Matt Cassel, electing to pass on a relatively unknown quantity in Vick.
Disappointing as this may be for Vick and his fans, including his apparent #1 booster Adrian Peterson, I think the Vikes made the right call. They looked at a bunch of less-than-ideal options and picked the one that for them appeared safest.
Vick would have been a gamble, but the potential upside was just not enough to justify the dice roll. Cassel we know can perform adequately, if inconsistently. That was about as good as you were going to do, the QB market being what it is right now.
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