Michael Vick will be in green this fall. It just won’t be the Jets’ shade.
Vick signed a new three-year deal with the Eagles yesterday, which is actually a one-year deal to remain with Philadelphia and compete for the starting quarterback job. Vick’s new deal is for $7 million, with another $3 million possible through incentives, according to multiple reports.
The signing removes one player from an already shallow pool of potential options for quarterback-needy teams like the Jets. It was highly unlikely the Jets would have pursued Vick had he become a free agent, according to several sources, but there would have been plenty of speculation.
What it means for the Jets is that teams like the 49ers and Seahawks just got more leverage over teams interested in making a trade for their backups — Alex Smith and Matt Flynn, respectively. This year’s free-agent and draft classes have very few frontline quarterbacks. Smith and Flynn are expected to be on the market when teams can begin to make trades March 12. Without Vick as an alternative, the asking price for Smith and Flynn just went up.
Incumbent starter Mark Sanchez is expected to be back with the Jets in 2013, but with competition. New general manager John Idzik has stressed the idea of competition at every position, but he has specifically mentioned quarterback.
The Jets are expected to explore the trade market for a quarterback, but could wind up signing one of the cheaper veteran free-agent alternatives such as Matt Moore or Jason Campbell. They also could take a quarterback in the draft, creating a three-way competition in the spring and summer with Sanchez.
Vick’s signing has a bigger impact in New York on the Giants than the Jets. They now could see Vick running new Eagles coach Chip Kelly’s fast-break offense twice a year.
Reports out of Philadelphia indicated Vick still might not be on the team when the season starts if he loses the quarterback competition with Nick Foles, but Vick appears to be a better fit than Foles to run the system Kelly used at Oregon.
“There’s an open competition. Michael knows that, Nick knows that,” Kelly said yesterday. “Nick knew every step of the way what we were doing. I specifically wanted to make sure Nick was included in the plans. I think both of them have outstanding qualities in terms of being quarterbacks in this league. Both of them have started in this league.
“I also know in this league you’d better have two [quarterbacks]. So I’m excited about the two of them. They’re both going to compete, and who the starting quarterback is to start the season off is going to be won on the practice field.”
Vick, who will be 33 when the season starts, had been scheduled to make $15.5 million this season in a contract that ran through 2016. His new deal is for three years, but the final two years void on March 15, making it a one-year deal in reality. He will get a $3.5 million base salary, $3.5 million signing bonus and an additional $3 million for hitting various incentives.
Vick needs to show he still has something left after turning the ball over 15 times in 10 games last season. A concussion sent him to the bench in November, clearing the way for Foles to start.
Now, the two will fight it out for the right to run Kelly’s offense.
“We’ll go alphabetical,” Kelly quipped. “First name, last name, we’ll flip a coin.”