Falcons "Not Married" To Michael Vick

ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported today that the Falcons are not necessarily commited to Michael Vick longterm. I know this might be shocking to some people, especially in light of the monster contract Vick signed just two years ago and the fact he's the face of the franchise, but the fact remains that the Falcons passing offense has been among the leagues worst ever since he became the starting QB.

Michael Vick is an interesting athlete to talk about. He has incredible raw potential which includes the fastest pair of legs ever to line up behind a center, and nobody questions his incredible arm strength. The problem is his mental toughness and his willingness to work on his deficiencies as a QB, so the problems he has are confined to his head. He has not seemed to improve as a passer over the last couple years. I personally thought earlier this season was a turning point for him; he publically questioned the direction of the offense and that he wasn't being allowed to pass as much as he wanted. He responded with two of the best passing games of his career (18/30, 232 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs vs. PIT, followed up by 19/27, 291 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs @ CIN). He went back to the Vick we all know after that, with only 2 quality passing performances over the next 8 games.

He still remains a very dangerous option at the QB position with his legs, but he doesn't seem to be progressing as a passer. It's a shame because he could prove to be almost undefensable if teams respected his ability as a passer, but they don't. One thing a lot of his critics don't seem to understand is the Falcons' lack of talent at the WR position. Dunn has always been reliable out of the backfield, and Crumpler is one of the best TEs in the NFL, but everything they've tried to do at the WR position has failed. Peerless Price went from stud second option in Buffalo to flop in Atlanta. Michael Jenkins was a first round pick, and has good size, but doesn't seem to get separation and drops too many passes. Roddy White has shown some promise, and has the deep speed to properly utilize Vick's arm, but he's been inconsistent at best thus far in his young career. The thing that remains to be seen is whether the WRs' problems are due to Vick or due to lack of talent/experience. The Falcons never brought in an established WR for Vick. Price was the only big WR signing for the Falcons while Vick has been the starter, and he wasn't necessarily established considering only he had only one 1,000 yard season prior to joining the Falcons.

Matt Schaub, Vick's backup QB for the past several seasons, has been a coveted property by several teams for the last 2 offseason. He's a good, young QB who's shown promise when playing while Vick has been injured, and obviously he's shown several teams that he's capable of being a starting QB in the time he's spent on the field. Schaub is obviously the reason the Falcons would say this about Vick; they obviously feel he's capable of leading the team and they would receive a king's ransom in return for Vick. I think it'd be a smart idea because if the Falcons truly believe that Schaub would lead the offense just as effectively, trading Vick would allow them to upgrade multiple positions and it'd be a win-win situation for them.