DeAngelo Hall Makes The Case For Mike Vick

No list of potential suitors for a high-profile player is complete without the inclusion of the Washington Redskins, especially if the Redskins haven’t come out and said they aren’t interested. (Like they did with Terrell Owens.) When it comes to quarterback Mike Vick, the Redskins should be on the list. They possibly should be at the top of it. For starters, they’ve clearly been looking for replacements for starter Jason Campbell. After failed efforts to get Jay Cutler and Mark Sanchez, Campbell remains the starter. Then there’s the fact that his former Atlanta teammate and fellow former Virginia Tech Hokie DeAngelo Hall plays for the Redskins. And Hall is lobbying aggressively for Vick to return to the NFL. On one of the radio stations owned by Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. “It’s a situation where society is what it is,” Hall recently said on ESPN 980 in D.C. (via SportsRadioInterviews.com). “Obviously people have done a lot of things that are a lot worse than what Mike did but with society being what it is, he definitely had to pay the price. I think he’s done that, he’s definitely remorseful, he’s very sincere about the things he wants to do in the future to help bring awareness to dog fighting and help try to combat that. But I definitely think he deserves another chance to play in this league. I definitely think he can play. There’s a lot of quarterbacks that got jobs that don’t want to see him back in the league because they know that any time you have teams in divisions drafting specific players just to stop Michael Vick, that’s when you know the guy’s a game changer and help you win a lot of games.” There was also discussion from one of the hosts regarding Vick’s ability to play quarterback in the traditional sense, almost with a presumption that he didn’t have good coaching or receivers in Atlanta. “He could be great,” Hall said. “Because he can make every single throw on the field. I think a lot of what they asked him to do was so limited because he was such a great athlete. They wanted him to still be able to use all those tools and still be able to kind of use his feet. We had coaches at the time a little bit one-track minded and ‘This is Michael Vick, we want him to be able to use his legs.’” But Hall didn’t openly suggest that the Redskins should sign Vick. Instead, Hall said that a great situation for Vick would be the 49ers, given the presence of coach Mike Singletary, who in Hall’s assessment would “love” to have Vick on his team. But Hall had one caveat regarding the possibility of Vick playing for the Niners. “I don’t know offensive line-wise would he be still running for his life or not like he was in Atlanta,” Hall said. It all might be a case of revisionist history, in our view. Many thought during Vick’s heyday with the Falcons that Vick used his legs as a crutch, choosing to run when the pocket began to disintegrate instead of standing tall and looking for an open man. “Standing tall” was another issue for Vick in Atlanta. One league source who once stood next to Vick on the field swore to us that, despite being listed officially as 6'0", Vick appears to be only 5'9". [Editor’s note: As a couple of you have pointed out, Vick measured 6'0" exactly at the 2001 Scouting Combine.] So part of the problem might have been that he couldn’t see over the offensive line, which forced him to use his exceptional speed, quickness, and agility to exit the pocket prematurely. Once away from the scrum of blockers and would-be tacklers, he often opted to tuck the ball away and run, given that he could advance the ball more certainly (and almost as quickly) by ground than by air. And when Vick did throw the ball, he often looked for tight end Alge Crumpler, possibly because he was a sufficiently large target for Vick to spot with eyes that possibly were only 66 inches or so off the ground. Regardless of whether the blame for Vick’s inability to develop as a passer falls in Atlanta to the coaching staff, the receivers, the offensive line, Vick himself, or some combination of thereof, the fact remains that Hall is convinced that Vick can get it done, and that he can get it done at a very high level. While Hall isn’t publicly suggesting that Vick should be the next starting quarterback of the Redskins, it’s anyone’s guess as to what Hall might be saying or doing behind the scenes to lobby for Vick to get his second chance with a team that clearly isn’t satisfied with it’s current first-stringer.