The prevailing view regarding Eagles coach Chip Kelly’s first NFL season goes like this: He doesn’t yet have the personnel he needs to run his offense.
Setting aside for now the question of whether he should maybe adjust his offense to the personnel he has, the most important question regarding the team’s personnel for 2014 arises from the quarterback position.
Does Kelly think Mike Vick, who’ll turn 34 next June, is the right guy to run the offense? With each week that goes by that the Eagles don’t extend Vick’s deal, more and more will wonder whether the answer is no.
For his part, Vick wants to stay.
“I think that’s solely up to the direction that this ownership wants to go in,” Vick told Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer regarding Vick’s contractual status. “Obviously, I love Philadelphia. I don’t want anything more than to bring a championship to this city.
“But the most important thing for me is to keep playing consistently, giving this team the best chance to win. It’s hard because . . . I think about my future, I think about me being on a one-year deal. But I don’t know what’s going to happen. I just want to win.”
So he admits that it’s on his mind. It may be a good thing, given that he generally has performed better as a quarterback this year. But Kelly, who as Vick explained it this week challenged the quarterback to lead the turnaround from a 1-3 start, may not be looking for someone who can generate stats. Kelly may be looking for someone who can generate wins.
Even if Vick were under contract beyond 2014, anything short of significant guaranteed money or a gigantic cap hit for next year would put him in play to be ousted. Entering 2013, Vick had three years left under contract, but he would have been cut if he hadn’t accepted a dramatically reduced compensation package on a one-year deal.
Though the contract is in his head, Vick can’t let it get in his head (Werder). He needs to use his unsettled situation to drive him to a higher level of play over the rest of the year. Then, if the Eagles decide to go in a different direction, Vick at least will have more options elsewhere.