Michael Vick
If there’s one thing the Philadelphia Eagles are sure of, it’s that quarterback Michael Vick will be returning to the City of Brotherly Love next year.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer & Daily News, the Eagles will likely place the franchise tag on Vick in the offseason, ensuring the dynamic signal-caller won’t hit free agency. Of course, this can only happen if the NFL agrees to a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that includes those types of tags and designations.
For the sake of this post, though, let’s assume they do.
Should the team and Vick not agree to a long-term pact, the franchise tag will net him the salary of the top five players at his position; a number that’s expected to hover around $15.4 million in 2011. Vick is currently making $5.2 million this season so that would obviously be a nice pay bump.
Coach Andy Reid is waiting for the other shoe to drop with the CBA negotiations before discussing Vick’s contract situation in detail.
“There will be a time and a place when that needs to be addressed, and we’ll address it,” Reid said last week, when asked if the lack of a collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the players’ union was impacting the Eagles’ ability to re-sign Vick. “It’s a crazy deal with the collective bargaining agreement and so on. We really haven’t done anything with anybody. It’s just a different year. . . .
“It is not because of Michael’s situation or his past. He’s making pretty good money this year. It’s not like he’s not making good money right now. It’s about the way the league is going right now, and so it’s hard to make those types of plans for the future.”
Vick himself even knows that there’s a time and a place for these talks and it should all work itself out in the end.
“I’m not really worried about that right now,” he said. “I think it’s all going to take care of itself at the appropriate time. I totally understand, but I’m going to keep playing and try to put myself in the best position that I can possibly be in and let it take care of itself.”
