Vick's Biggest Obstacle is Contact
It's been suggested recently that Michael Vick's skill level "without one single doubt" will return to where it was pre-prison sentence. Vick is only 29 and should have maintained most of his speed. He worked out in Leavenworth and has endured little wear and tear on his body over the last 18 months, presumably (insert jailhouse joke here).
The rise of the Wildcat formation would seem to make Vick more attractive to NFL teams. He can run, throw, and make people miss. Vick excelled when the Falcons dabbled with a Vick-Warrick Dunn option package briefly during the Jim Mora era.
But it is overly optimistic to believe Vick can be anything more than a situational player. The NFL is not like the NBA, where a player can come back from a long layoff and quickly return to "playing shape." This is a sport built on violent hitting, and Vick hasn't faced (much) contact since the end of the 2006 season.
It's why football players coming off lost seasons often struggle to ever regain form. It takes years for a player's body to be conditioned to take hits and bounce back up, and once lost, that capability is not recaptured quickly. Like a baseball hitter regaining his "timing" at the plate, the football player coming back from even a short absence must get used to routine physical pounding.
Assuming Roger Goodell reinstates him, Vick might secure a one-year deal for the seventh-year minimum (something like $700,000) and help a team in situations as a sort of trick-play weapon. But his chances of playing quarterback full time in year one are extremely poor.
The readers of this blog probably know it already, but Vick -- a fantasy starter in 2004 and 2005, and the QB3 overall in 2006 -- won't be a fantasy option in 2009. He's a deep-league dynasty stash.
Comments
Ahh the good old days...
I for one hope that Vick gets to play again soon. Give the media circus something else to talk about instead of Favre.
Posted by: Reaper | May 21, 2009 11:11 AM
He's my kind of dynasty league stash. I'm interested in what a stash can do in the best case scenario ... no matter how remote. And we already know Vick can be a fantasy weapon in the best case scenario, even if it is remote.
I don't have to strain my eyes very far to envision a scenario where Vick is starting and putting up good fantasy numbers as soon as early 2010.
Posted by: Wess | May 21, 2009 11:17 AM
funny that this article comes immediately after the "JaMarcus is bust" article. a team like Oakland would be perfect for Vick. take the next year and give JaMarcus a chance to prove he's not a bust, while working Vick in on certain packages (wildcat as everyone mentions, etc.). after one year, you should have a much better idea what you have in vick and what you have in jamarcus. pick one, cut the other.
i hope goodell gets off his high horse and reinstates vick. the man has paid his debt to society, let him play frikkin football for cryin out loud.
Posted by: veggieb | May 21, 2009 01:00 PM
well there are exceptions to every rule. for every long layoff failure (p.jones), there is a guy who plays well after missing a year (a.bryant). i think its all about conditioning and raw talent. if vicks been hitting the yard while in the joint, his raw talent and that could translate to a success story in 2010.
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