Maclin Update and Interesting Note on Vick’s Becoming an Eagle
Posted: August 17th, 2011 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 25 Comments »First, the good news. Jeremy Maclin is close to being back. I won’t go into all of the details. You can go real the Daily News piece to get all the info you want.
The bottom line is that he doesn’t have cancer, something that was feared for a while. The doctors did every test possible and still don’t have a strong conclusion. The symptoms have gone away and Maclin feels fine. He did have a procedure in St. Louis last week and is recovering from that, but it was just minor. The hope is that he’ll be practicing in 7 to 10 days. Right now he needs to do some conditioning to get back into football shape.
If all goes as planned, Maclin will be on the field for the Eagles opener in St. Louis. Great news for him. Great news for us.
* * * * *
Michael Vick did an in-depth interview with GQ magazine. The issue comes out on Thursday, but Deadspin shared some blurbs. Vick talked about all kinds of things, but I’m not interested in getting back into a discussion of his non-football situation.
There was one blurb that is football related and very interesting. On his coming to Philly:
“I think I can say this now, because it’s not going to hurt anybody’s feelings, and it’s the truth… I didn’t want to come to Philadelphia. Being the third-team quarterback is nothing to smile about. Cincinnati and Buffalo were better options.”
Those two teams wanted him and would’ve allowed him to start, but after meeting with commissioner Roger Goodell and other reps from the NFL, Vick was convinced—and granted league approval—to sign with Philly. “And I commend and thank them, because \they put me in the right situation.”
Wow. The NFL basically pushed Vick into coming here. Smart move on the league’s part and smart of Vick to not fight them on the issue. He didn’t have a lot he could realistically do, but does anyone think the Vick of 2006 would have stayed quiet and done what the league said?
So, how mad are NFC East rivals that the league didn’t let him to go Cincy or Buffalo?
The one comment in the article that Cincy would have allowed Vick to start is questionable. Carson Palmer was coming off injury, but ended up starting all 16 games and played well. The notion that Vick would have signed with them in early August and been made the starter is a bit hard to believe. Then again, the Bengals are the Bengals for a reason.
I’d be kinda furious if I were a Bengals or Bills fan. Obviously, it worked out in spectacular fashion for my team, but should the league be intervening in that manner?
No way we’d even be talking about Vick today if he had gone to the Bills or Cincy. Reid and Marty are as responsible for Vick’s success as he is.
This is a real tough topic. Bottom line, Goodell only wanted to let Vick back in under certain circumstances. I think he wanted Vick to succeed in order to show other guys that life can change if you do the right things.
The Vick that BUF and CIN would have gotten would not be the guy we saw last year. Still good, but not the same.
Mike Vick was a very contraversial player. There was no way that he or the public was ready for him to start. He had to go to a team that had a starting QB and didn’t need him to start right away. He needed a team had a stable coach and a stable organization. Mike Vick is probably the most contraversial free agent in the history of sports. This transaction was tricky and the league had to intervene.
I have to imagine the league may not be too happy about Vick’s statement. While realistically, it makes a lot of sense for them to have wanted to push Vick towards as stable a situation as possible and to a team that is well respected in terms of being perceived as having high character people throughout the organization, I can’t imagine they want it known publicly that they played favoritism, especially if the Bills or the Bengals really wanted him.
Mike Vick was the most contraversial free agent in the history of the NFL. It was a trick situation and the league HAD to intervene. Buff and Cincy are not stable organizations. Plus there was no way that he or fans were ready to see him start last year.
@ Stan…
Lots of truth in those comments.
@Stan
Don’t get me wrong, I fully agree that the league needed to get involved, but from a PR standpoint, that can’t be something they want out in the public.
You can’t discount the impact going to an AR lead team either. You can say a lot about AR but he has a track record when it comes to QB’s. I’m not buying that Vick would have morphed into the same guy he is now had he been in Buffalo or Cincy. Frankly I think theres a good chance especially in an unstable environment like Cincy that he could have been thoroughly mediocre.
I do not like Goodell. I actually really dont like Goodell.
But, there are 2 things that are HUGE that I am very apreciative for.
1. A season this year, and 9 more years.
2. And apparently now, Mike Vick
@ Stan
I agree with your post but wanted to point out…this is Vick’s third year with the Eagles. So he could have started 2 years ago with Buf or Cincy. The Eagles PR campaign over the last couple years has really been positive for Vick. As you stated, I don’t think the other orgs could have pulled off what the Eagles have done.
I heard someone talking about this being Reid’s 13th season with the Birds the other day…really? Damn time flies.
Tommy,
Random but, its really been worrying me, as im sure it has with plenty of other fans.
3/4 of the articles I read about Henery are positive. Then the other 1/4 are saying how inconsitent he has been. I beleive the latest article about his inconsistency was on comcastsportsnet.com. I think.
Just in case the Eagles start to not like what they see, (which doesnt seem to be case) what are the FA options for kickers right now?
The thing about Mike Vick is that he was probably the most hated pro athlete that I can think of. His actions stirred up a lot of emotions and people were not ready to accept him or forgive him for what he did. I guess the league wanted Vick to sign with a team for a year or two to give the fans time to accept him. After which he would be free to sign with any team that was willing to start him.
The initial team that signed him had to be one that had a stable head coach, a stable organization, and a stable QB. Only those teams could handle the PR hit that the Vick signing would have brought.
Only a handful of teams fit that criteria and of those teams the Eagles were probably the only one that was willing to sign him.
In this situation I think it was a widely accepted fact that the league was working with Mike Vick and his agent to find the best team for him. It doesn’t matter if a team was willing to start him or if another team was willing to pay him more. The league had to make sure that whatever team signed him, wouldn’t be subject to major revenue loss and was strong enough to handle this type of situation. Neither Buffalo and Cincy were that type of team.
Vick was not your typical FA. How many times has a FA signing been reported by major new outlet like CNN?
Glad to hear JMac is going to be ok.
@Kyle – I think the losses of Akers & Rocca are very underrated. One thing I have heard people mention is that the new kickoff rule may result in an uptick of onside kicks. Akers was pretty good at those. It remains to be seen how Henery is at those. Akers was a decent, or at least willing, tackler (for a kicker). Henry scares me even more based on his performance in the first game.
Tommy, speaking of kickoff rule change, how much do you think the rule hurts a guy like Anderson’s chances of making a team. I know there were a lot of kicks boomed 5+ yards deep in week one of preseason, but in wind and inclement weather, you certainly should not count on that. Wasn’t he also a key contributor on punt coverage? Can’t wait to see how the 53 man roster shakes out. Maybe Howie can continue his off season glory scoring a few more draft picks from desperate teams while whittling the team down to 53.
@ netherman, I recently read in an article Joselio Hanson’s name mentioned in return for a 3rd or 4th round pick. I personally think thats hogwash, but I do think he has some value and wouldn’t be shocked to see us get a 5th or 6th in return.
Vick still would’ve been great without Andy reid. This man changed his life in prison and was destined for success! I agree Andy did a great job of teaching but Vick would’ve learned regardless. Philadelphia is just as lucky for having Vick as the other way around
When we signed Vick I new something was fishy. I thought the league asked Laurie and Reid to take Vick and train him. it just didnt
Sorry. Make sense to me at the time that we took him and he wanted to come. I still think goodel came ti lurie and reid to talk to them about considering vick. goodell wan-ted vick to succeed.
Great point about how goodell wanted him to come here becuase we already had a stable qb and wouldn’t have to start vick. I didn’t even think if that. It also worked out perfect w us putting Vick on the field as a wild cat because he wasn’t starting but people were getting used to seeing him on the field in small doses
Didn’t Cincy have a reputation for taking ex-cons? There was a while where it seemed like Marvin Lewis’ goal for the franchise was to become the NFL’s version of the Portland Jailbreakers. I think there’s no way the organization lets Lewis pick him up at that point in Vick’s “career.”
Another thought that I was hoping you could discuss, Tommy:
We’ve seen Reid do some great stuff. 4 straight NFC Championship Games, 1 Super Bowl, turn talent into results on the field (every quarterback of his – Donovan, Kolb, Vick, Garcia, Detmer, Feeley, McMa- never mind), and create an incredibly stable, winning organization. Players want to come here to play for him. This year, he gets what may be the most talented team he’s ever fielded, and maybe the most talented team in the league (knock on wood).
If we DON’T win a Super Bowl this year – what happens? Obviously, there are things out of his control, like injuries and blown calls, etc., but supposing it’s a normal season, with the normal or slightly more than normal amount of adversity, is it fair to ask if Reid is a coach legitimately capable of winning the big one? His rap has consistently been that he’s the greatest coach from Tuesday – Saturday, and not the greatest on gameday. If you give him a team this talented and he doesn’t do anything with it, how do you have to feel as Banner, Lurie, and, to a lesser extent, Roseman? What more do they need to do as an FO to help the man win?
I realize this is a bit premature, and that these posts usually crop up after our typical January losses. I’m not even saying you fire the guy if we don’t make it this year. I’m just wondering if we can safely conclude that he just may not be one of those guys who naturally wins Super Bowls. And if so – what happens? Do we say, hey, at least we’re in the playoffs year in and year out with him, maybe one year we just get lucky and end up winning it all?
I really wish Vick didn’t say this. He could have waited post retirement to bring it up. I suppose he wanted it off his chest…
We didn’t need another potential “distraction”
Tommy:
If Hunt and Teo show great things in the preseason, would it be out of the question for the Eagles to carry 6 DE’s?
@Iowa
Glad to see i’m not the only one pulling for Hunt to make the team. i’m a bit indifferent on Teo, however.
@Iowa
I am not Tommy but I strongly believe that the Eagles will carry 10 D-linemen in total. If it’s going to be 6 DE’s, I don’t know, especially since JP is not a lock to make the team this year. If he does though I can see the Eagles going with 6 DE’s and 4 DT’s. Hargrove or Landri would be the odd man out in this case. Laws is written off in my books already.
@Anirudh
Marvin really doesn’t have much say in what players come and go. Mike Brown makes pretty much every decision.