NFL: Michael Vick and What Could Have Been

Bad decisions and immaturity cost very-talented quarterback Michael Vick what could have been a special career.

Free agent quarterback Michael Vick would like a chance to play for your favorite National Football League team in 2016.

Josina Anderson of ESPN.com caught up with Vick in early August and less than a week before the first preseason game of the 2016 NFL campaign. Vick, per Anderson, is working hard and waiting for his phone to ring:

"“I’m on the grind. I’m down in Florida with the family waiting on an opportunity,” he said to ESPN. “This is the last year for me and I am going to wait it out. I just want to put the helmet on one more time and dedicate myself to the game one more year.”"

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Vick isn’t the same QB who started for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2010 following the prison sentence he earned because of a dog fighting scandal. Vick certainly isn’t the same athlete he was when he became a superstar while starting for the Atlanta Falcons in the first half of the 2000s.

Vick turned 36 years old this past June. The legs he had during his best days with the Eagles and Falcons are no longer there. Vick last rushed for a touchdown during the 2013 campaign. Before that, Vick accumulated a single rushing TD in each of the previous two seasons.

Vick rushed for nine touchdowns in 2010.

Whether or not Vick plays in the NFL at all over the next five months, all signs point to Vick making his exit from the league sooner than later. Maybe Vick can catch on as a backup for a team such as the Dallas Cowboys or Cleveland Browns if the Browns decide to trade veteran journeyman Josh McCown. Even if that happens, Vick will likely finish out his pro career on a sideline watching a game if he has a gig in the NFL at all.

Oh, what could have been for who was a unique and special athlete 15 years ago.

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Vick wasn’t a great QB during his stint with the Falcons as much as he was an explosive offensive weapon. As is noted on Pro-Football-Reference.com, Vick rushed for 3,859 yards and 21 TDs during his six seasons with the Falcons before legal problems halted his career. Vick also tossed 57 interceptions and accumulated a rating of 75.7 over that time. Worse, Vick completed 53.8 percent of his attempts over those six years.

Those of us who marveled at watching Vick don’t remember his inaccurate passes or interceptions. We allow ourselves to forget Vick making obscene gestures to fans. We instead focus on why we tuned-in to Fox on those NFL Sundays and why we made sure to flip the channel over to ESPN to watch SportsCenter highlights.

Vick was a touchdown waiting to happen, a player capable of doing something special and memorable every time the ball entered his hands. Vick’s mobility and agility excited fans, but don’t forget that Vick possessed a rocket arm in his prime. “The Michael Vick Experience” was a fun thought, but it failed to account for Vick being able to hit on long bombs down the field.

We can’t say how Vick would have developed had he not squandered the first half of his career. We’ll never know. Vick debuted in the NFL as a 21-year-old who tossed only 113 passes in his rookie season. Five seasons after that, Vick’s personal life and off-the-field issues caught up with him and essentially erased three years from the prime of his career.

What we do know, however, is that Vick changed while behind bars. Vick matured as a man, a player and a leader. During the 2010 season, Vick coupled 21 TD passes and 9 rushing TDs with only 6 interceptions in 12 starts. All of those interceptions occurred in the final five games of the regular season, perhaps a sign that a 30-year-old who hadn’t been a starting QB since the fall of 2006 was experiencing understandable levels of fatigue.

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Vick completed 62.63 percent of his passes that season. He ended the campaign with a career-high rating of 100.2.

We also know Vick’s offensive production dropped off every season after 2010. Vick did not lose his best playing days to the wear and tear that comes with playing meaningful football games over a dozen times a year. Vick’s biggest enemy besides himself and past mistakes he made was Father Time.

Father Time never loses a one-on-one battle.

Different athletes and different quarterbacks mature at different times. Eli Manning didn’t flip the figurative switch until January 2008, and he likely would not have done so without the help of lengthy wide receiver Plaxico Burress. Cam Newton winning the NFL Most Valuable Player award last season has caused some to forget about Newton pouting on sidelines during games and about Newton’s own teammates calling him out years ago.

A franchise willing to mortgage its future probably could have acquired Newton in a trade back in 2013, but that’s another story for another day.

There are multiple reasons to wish Vick would have made different life decisions starting in 2001. Multiple lives, Vick’s included, would have been better off had that happened. As it pertains to Vick the football player, we caught only glimpses of what Vick could be as a pro and a mature individual capable of living the life of a starting QB on and off the field.

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We’ll never know what Vick could have been. That will be his lasting legacy whenever he hangs his cleats up for good.