Rhoden and Jesse Jackson strike again

Exactly. Wonder if Jesse had the same thoughts when Jeff George was essentially blackballed despite still having one of the league's best arms. It's not like this situation is something that's never happened before. Talented guys find themselves out of work for non on-field performance reasons all the time, and in most such cases the reasons are less egregious and explainable than Vick's.

Whoever signs Vick first is gonna face a significant fan backlash from the animal loving part of it's community. The owners know that. Combine that with the fact that the guy hasn't played in years (and whose play was slipping the last couple years he was), is it really that surprising that owners would be reluctant to sign him?

 

Right now signing him causes problems. It won't be a problem after a few injuries.

 

Or, coaches might have realized that its not worth the effort to pick up a quarterback who is a shitty passer.

 

Just a few facts here to go along with all the opinions:

Vick hardly deserves the label 'coach killer'. He played for two coaches in the NFL. Reeves got fired basically because Vick got injured and couldn't play. And Mora got fired because he decided to go on radio and openly campaign for his dream job in Washington while employed with the Falcons.

I also don't see the poor passer label as really fair, either. In the four years he played for Atlanta, his TDs exceeded his interceptions every year, something say, lord Favre couldn't state for himself. It's not like he was just throwing it all the field, up for grabs.

And his receivers--names like Dez White, Shawn Jefferson, a Peerless Price who wasn't up to being a no 1, rookies in Michael Jenkins and Roddy White, who played like rookies. Really, beyond Crumpler, he had little to work with. Kind of hard to have a top completion percentage when your receivers can't get open.

 

If coaches didn't take one look at Vick and assume that signing him would lead to his dismissal...Vick would be with a team -- especially in a league with 12-14 good to great quarterbacks and 32 teams.

Same with Favre. If Vick or Favre would be worth the headaches, they'd have more interest.

 

ATL passing stats:

2006: 52.6%, 2474 yards, 20 tds, 13 ints 6.4 ypa

2007: 60.5%, 3573 yards, 18 tds, 15 ints, 6.4 ypa


Real easy to blame the WR's but the awesome trio of Joey Harrington, Chris Redman and Byron Leftwich put up better numbers in ATL than Vick.

 

If Dungy, who is very much respected in the NFL, gives him a thumbs up, you can bet Vick will be in someone's camp before the season begins.

 

Fewer TDs. more INTs, same ypa. Not sure I would call that better numbers.

 

More yards, better completion percentage. Maybe not better but equal numbers and those three guys are crappy QB's.

 

He'll be picked up by someone. It's hardly collusion because a handful of teams said they aren't interested. He's not guaranteed a spot, but he will fill some need on someone's roster, then Jackson can quit making a mockery of legitimate victims of racial discrimination by painting a brutal dog-killer as a martyr of civil rights.

 

The reality is what team is going to take a chance on a QB that will not help their team this season. Every team now has 2 or 3 QB's that have been running their system for in some cases years. Anyone who signs him is really thinking about next year.

 

It might surprise you to discover that NFL teams do not qualify for the playoffs on the basis of offensive and defensive statistics.
They qualify based on Wins and Losses.
In two of Vick's Pro Bowl years, the Falcons reached the playoffs -- which is basically 1/4 of the franchise's playoff appearances.
Over the course of those three Pro Bowl years, the team was 28-19-1.
From 2001-2006, the team was no worse than 7-9 in any year but 2003, when Vick missed 11 games because of a broken leg.
If you can't see the difference that a healthy, fit Vick can make for a football team, you need to be following lacrosse.