Was Michael Vick a Failure? (1 Viewer)

[FUBAR]

Hijack from another thread.

The following is a thread hijack:

[Aside from being a thug, when did Vick "Fail" in the NFL?

If you're expecting Vince Young to be between Steve Young (one of the better QBs ever) and Vick, you do get it, but how is that failing?

Here are Vick's passing stats over his career:Completion % = 53.8

Yards per Attempt = 6.7

Touchdowns = 71

Interceptions = 52

Passer Rating = 75.1

Here are Byron Leftwich's stats over his career:

Completion % = 58.6

Yards per Attempt = 6.6

Touchdowns = 52

Interceptions = 38

Passer Rating = 79.7

Here are Elvis Grbac's stats over his career:

Completion % = 59.1

Yards per Attempt = 6.9

Touchdowns = 99

Interceptions = 81

Passer Rating = 79.6

Brian Griese's stats over his career:

Completion % = 62.9

Yards per Attempt = 7.0

Touchdowns = 114

Interceptions = 92

Passer Rating = 83.6

This is the type of company Vick keeps as a QB... these are QB's that are BETTER than Vick as QB's and are generally considered failures.

Now if you want to look at Vick as a Running Back - that might have been different. I would say he would have graded out similar to Warrick Dunn - not a bad career really.

How about we look at Vick as a player and not try to use the logic "QBs are only as good as their passing stats"? If you're saying Vick = Dunn + Griese, I'm good with that.

Dunn's a 3 time pro-bowler, Griese 1 time.

Vick's also a 3 time pro-bowler in a 6 year career. If you're calling a player who made the pro-bowl half his years in the NFL a failure, well... ok. FWIW, Favre made it just over half his years.

Vick had to make the pro-bowl..he was part of the NFL hype machine.

Ah, got it. When all else fails, resort to the "hype machine" argument

Vick made the Pro-Bowl in 2004..he threw 14 TDs, had 12 INTs, 3 Rushing TDs, less than 55% completion, #26 in passer rating, #28 in passing yards. I don`t think I am resorting to anything.

I like how you ignore the 902 rushing yards. He also led his team to a 11-5 record and the conference championship.

If you want to give credit to the defense, great, but it was the 14th ranked D.

If you want to give credit to the rushing game, great, but without him, it would have been #20.

Yep, he must have been a complete failure.

thoughts?

 

[greenroom]

As a player - No, as a person - Yes

Vick was a good football player. He was not the greatest QB, but he was always someone you would watch to see what he would do. As a person he has hurt the league by his actions. It put the NFL in the spotlite on a negative subject and that is where he failed in the NFL.

 

[switz]

I voted both "Yes, complete failure, he was attrocious" AND "As a QB - yes, as a player - No"

He was a complete failure, because he was atrocious at his position. But at the same time, he was a good "player" and really should have played a different position. However, I think had he played a different position, he wouldn't have lasted as long, due to taking more hits.

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

I think he was a failure because he only reached one conference championship game, and they didn't even win it. When you're the #1 pick overall, expectations are higher than that.

 

[BustedKnuckles]

Great athlete....Average football player....from what i read a failure as a person(having never known him personaly cant say for sure)

 

[phthalatemagic]

He was a poor player based on his contract vs his performance. If you got paid like Vick did, you need to win more games. However since he cost so much money, the Falcons could not acquire more talent which hurt the team. The Falcons would have been better off not drafting Vick and that's not counting the dog fighting rap that he picked up.

 

[KnowledgeReignsSupreme]

No.

 

[J-Rock]

I think Vick is significantly undervalued as a QB and a Pro in general. He really didn't have a lot of talent around him for most of his career yet he still won more games than he lost (39 - 35) and he had the ability to put his team on his back and single handedly win a game if needed. He was also a nightmare for opposing teams to game plan for. I think the lack of talented playmakers around him and the fact that he never really had a coach who knew how to utilize his skill set has a lot to do with people's negative perception of him (that and all of the FFB players expecting Manning like production)

In terms of the contract he was given I'd say he was worth every penny. The guy sold tickets, jerseys, and the NFL in general better than 99% of the players in the league. Remember, players don't get millions of dollars because of their talent. They get paid big bucks because they make their franchises huge bucks.

As a human being I think it's pretty clear he has his issues. But as a football player he is/ was a once in a lifetime talent who I believe in the right situation could have been an absolute legend.

 

[FTRWRTR]

He was a poor player based on his contract vs his performance. If you got paid like Vick did, you need to win more games. However since he cost so much money, the Falcons could not acquire more talent which hurt the team. The Falcons would have been better off not drafting Vick and that's not counting the dog fighting rap that he picked up.

An important factor that you're forgetting is his impact to the Falcons from a business standpoint. Win or lose ppl paid to see him play and they couldn't sell out games before he got here and they can't sell out games now.

 

[TD Ryan]

definitely a better pure runner than either Manning or Brady.

 

[The Dawg]

I'm consistently amazed at how people completely devalue a running quarterback. Was Vick great? No way. Did he live up to the hype? Hell no. But he had a few seasons where he was effective and carried some pretty mediocre to awful teams pretty far.

 

[Phlash]

Vick went to the playoffs 2 out of the 4 years he was in the league. Also, keep in mind he didn't have Roddy White most of those years and thus awful receivers (outside of Crumpler) and his defense was average. The guy carried his team.

 

[FUBAR]

Vick went to the playoffs 2 out of the 4 years he was in the league. Also, keep in mind he didn't have Roddy White most of those years and thus awful receivers (outside of Crumpler) and his defense was average. The guy carried his team.

<_< He was in the league 6 years.

 

[jasonbay]

He wasn't a complete failure, but he wasn't good. vastly overrated by the masses.

 

[Slinger]

I find it interesting how a WR for Atlanta was actually worth having on a fantasy team this season. You could never say that when Michael Vick was at the helm. So here we have a QB who sucked at throwing the ball. Let that stink in for a second. A QB who sucks at throwing the ball and there's actually people who think he's not a failure.

He was really great at running the ball and that's fun to watch on the highlight film, but overall the job of a quarterback is to throw the ball (shocker, I know) and to be the leader. There's other running QB's out there, but at least they can throw a decent ball at times.

Just about all the other starting QB's in the league are leaders. Michael Vick failed at that too. Add the fact that he is an extremely terrible human being, thus a PR nightmare for the Falcons, there's no way to properly suggest that he was anything, but a failure.

And get off the whole He took the Falcons to the conference championship! bandwagon. The stars and moon were alligned perfectly for that to happen. Overall he's been the suck.

Edit to add: Ryan Leaf sucked, but at least he was in and out of the league in a hurry. Atlanta had to put up with Vick for years.

 

[SSOG]

He was tremendously overrated early in his career, and tremendously UNDERRATED late in his career. His play on the field came nowhere near justifying his ridiculous contract, but he was consistently an above-average QB (yes, I said QB, because there's more to being a QB than just passing), and I'm sure he made Arthur Blake more money per year than he cost, so by that measure, his contract was totally warranted. I think he was a good QB who could have been a great QB if he'd only had better coaching through his career.

 

[KnowledgeReignsSupreme]

I find it interesting how a WR for Atlanta was actually worth having on a fantasy team this season. You could never say that when Michael Vick was at the helm. So here we have a QB who sucked at throwing the ball. Let that stink in for a second. A QB who sucks at throwing the ball and there's actually people who think he's not a failure.

He was really great at running the ball and that's fun to watch on the highlight film, but overall the job of a quarterback is to throw the ball (shocker, I know) and to be the leader. There's other running QB's out there, but at least they can throw a decent ball at times.

Just about all the other starting QB's in the league are leaders. Michael Vick failed at that too. Add the fact that he is an extremely terrible human being, thus a PR nightmare for the Falcons, there's no way to properly suggest that he was anything, but a failure.

And get off the whole He took the Falcons to the conference championship! bandwagon. The stars and moon were alligned perfectly for that to happen. Overall he's been the suck.

Edit to add: Ryan Leaf sucked, but at least he was in and out of the league in a hurry. Atlanta had to put up with Vick for years.

The job of any player is to advance the ball down the field.

 

[pollardsvision]

obviously, vick wasn't a great passer, or even really serviceable by nfl standards.

however, he won games and his teammates loved him.

he also made professional football highly important in likely the worst pro sports town in america, and that's quite an accomplishment.

i wouldn't call it a failure, but i wouldn't call it a success either.

 

[Rovers]

This is a trick question. I hate trick questions.... but, in short.... he handcuffed his offense. His running playmaking ability had to be part of every game plan.... game plans HAD to revolve around him. that made Atlanta a one dimensional offense.

Ask yourself this question: If you wanted the team you are a homer for, would you want Vick to be the QB to lead your team to winning the super bowl? The answer is NO.

 

[SSOG]

This is a trick question. I hate trick questions.... but, in short.... he handcuffed his offense. His running playmaking ability had to be part of every game plan.... game plans HAD to revolve around him. that made Atlanta a one dimensional offense. Ask yourself this question: If you wanted the team you are a homer for, would you want Vick to be the QB to lead your team to winning the super bowl? The answer is NO.

As a Florida fan, I have to say, I've never considered Tim Tebow's running ability a "handicap"...

 

[Yenrub]

This is a trick question. I hate trick questions.... but, in short.... he handcuffed his offense. His running playmaking ability had to be part of every game plan.... game plans HAD to revolve around him. that made Atlanta a one dimensional offense.

Ask yourself this question: If you wanted the team you are a homer for, would you want Vick to be the QB to lead your team to winning the super bowl? The answer is NO.

Ah the answer is I don't care who the QB is if the team is winning the Super Bowl

 

[Slinger]

As a Florida fan, I have to say, I've never considered Tim Tebow's running ability a "handicap"...

To be fair, college football and the NFL are two different worlds. Tim Tebow is a much better passer now then Vick ever was, thus he's more valuable.

 

[Da Guru]

Mike Vick was not a failure..nor a savior. Mike was a middle to lower of the pack QB that was paid as a top QB.

There are 32 starting Qbs..Mike was in the 20-25 range.

 

[awesomeness]

AOTA

 

[Truman]

As a Florida fan, I have to say, I've never considered Tim Tebow's running ability a "handicap"...

To be fair, college football and the NFL are two different worlds. Tim Tebow is a much better passer now then Vick ever was, thus he's more valuable.

You know Vick put up a better passer rating at Tech as a freshman than any QB currently on an NFL roster.

 

[Truman]

So he sucked compared to his hype, draft position, personal failures and contract? Or maybe it was his failure to rank amongst the league's passing leaders, despite his mammoth 350 passes a year, all-day 2 offensive line and inability to turn Ashley Lelie into a pro bowler?

How about due to his ability on the football field? He rushed for 1000 yards last year at 8 YPC, had one of the highest TD %s in the league and didn't make the pro bowl in the NFC.

Yes, there was a reciever on the Falcons who was worth having in FF. On a team which threw the ball another hundred times on the year. But there wasn't a QB worth having. The perennial pro bowl TE had a down year. Anyone draft Dunn or Norwood and win their league? Thought not.

Despite the fact that the team ran a far superior offensive system rather than the hybrid Gibbs/WCO scheme the team stagnated with under Mora.

No, the team wound up with a 4-12 record, and one of the top picks in the draft.

A failure? How about the most underrated, underutilised player ever?

 

[Assani Fisher]

I think he was a failure because he only reached one conference championship game, and they didn't even win it. When you're the #1 pick overall, expectations are higher than that.

IIRC his team was horrible the year before he got there, went something like 2-11 when he got injured one year, went 0-1 last year without him, and were obviously horrible this year....yet with him they were solid playoff contenders. Seems kinda unfair to pin that on him considering those facts, no?

 

[Assani Fisher]

I'm consistently amazed at how people completely devalue a running quarterback. Was Vick great? No way. Did he live up to the hype? Hell no. But he had a few seasons where he was effective and carried some pretty mediocre to awful teams pretty far.

Do you people also ignore Marshall Faulk's receiving totals because "thats not the job of a RB"?

 

[Assani Fisher]

I find it interesting how a WR for Atlanta was actually worth having on a fantasy team this season. You could never say that when Michael Vick was at the helm. So here we have a QB who sucked at throwing the ball. Let that stink in for a second. A QB who sucks at throwing the ball and there's actually people who think he's not a failure.

He was really great at running the ball and that's fun to watch on the highlight film, but overall the job of a quarterback is to throw the ball (shocker, I know) and to be the leader. There's other running QB's out there, but at least they can throw a decent ball at times.

Just about all the other starting QB's in the league are leaders. Michael Vick failed at that too. Add the fact that he is an extremely terrible human being, thus a PR nightmare for the Falcons, there's no way to properly suggest that he was anything, but a failure.

And get off the whole He took the Falcons to the conference championship! bandwagon. The stars and moon were alligned perfectly for that to happen. Overall he's been the suck.

Edit to add: Ryan Leaf sucked, but at least he was in and out of the league in a hurry. Atlanta had to put up with Vick for years.

disagree...the goal is to help your team win however you can. Vick did that very well.

 

[AhrnCityPahnder]

I find it interesting how a WR for Atlanta was actually worth having on a fantasy team this season. You could never say that when Michael Vick was at the helm. So here we have a QB who sucked at throwing the ball. Let that stink in for a second. A QB who sucks at throwing the ball and there's actually people who think he's not a failure.

Alge Crumpler was a top TE in the league until this year. So, while it wasn't a WR, you can say there has always been one Falcons pass catcher who was worth having. It had been Crumpler until this year, this year it was White.

There's lots of things you can knock Vick for, but you're reaching here.

 

[Assani Fisher]

As a Florida fan, I have to say, I've never considered Tim Tebow's running ability a "handicap"...

To be fair, college football and the NFL are two different worlds. Tim Tebow is a much better passer now then Vick ever was, thus he's more valuable.

 

[Truman]

I think he was a failure because he only reached one conference championship game, and they didn't even win it. When you're the #1 pick overall, expectations are higher than that.

IIRC his team was horrible the year before he got there, went something like 2-11 when he got injured one year, went 0-1 last year without him, and were obviously horrible this year....yet with him they were solid playoff contenders. Seems kinda unfair to pin that on him considering those facts, no?

What you fail to mention here is that last year's loss was to a bunch of Eagles second and third stringers.

 

[thayman]

He was a poor player based on his contract vs his performance. If you got paid like Vick did, you need to win more games. However since he cost so much money, the Falcons could not acquire more talent which hurt the team. The Falcons would have been better off not drafting Vick and that's not counting the dog fighting rap that he picked up.

On the field he didn't perform to his contract. In marketing he certainly did.

 

[SSOG]

As a Florida fan, I have to say, I've never considered Tim Tebow's running ability a "handicap"...

To be fair, college football and the NFL are two different worlds. Tim Tebow is a much better passer now then Vick ever was, thus he's more valuable.

I agree. Vick's lack of passing prowess was a handicap, but there's nobody who can possibly say that his running ability was a handicap.

As a Florida fan, I have to say, I've never considered Tim Tebow's running ability a "handicap"...

To be fair, college football and the NFL are two different worlds. Tim Tebow is a much better passer now then Vick ever was, thus he's more valuable.

Not to get too far off topic, but do you know which Heisman-winning QB had the top passer rating in his Heisman season? Tim Tebow, breaking Wuerrful's old record.

 

[Phlash]

Vick went to the playoffs 2 out of the 4 years he was in the league. Also, keep in mind he didn't have Roddy White most of those years and thus awful receivers (outside of Crumpler) and his defense was average. The guy carried his team.

He was in the league 6 years.

I meant starting a majority of the season... which he did in 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006.

 

[Truman]

Vick had a higher passer rating than Tebow did this year as a feshman.

 

[SSOG]

Vick had a higher passer rating than Tebow did this year as a feshman.

Question: which of these QBs would you say was the better passer?QB1 = 90 of 152 for 1840 yards, 12 scores, and 5 INTsQB2 = 234 of 350 for 3286 yards, 32 scores, and 6 INTsEdit: Also, Vick was a redshirt freshman. Tebow never redshirted. Both were in their second season.

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

I think he was a failure because he only reached one conference championship game, and they didn't even win it. When you're the #1 pick overall, expectations are higher than that.

IIRC his team was horrible the year before he got there, went something like 2-11 when he got injured one year, went 0-1 last year without him, and were obviously horrible this year....yet with him they were solid playoff contenders. Seems kinda unfair to pin that on him considering those facts, no?

Not really. Yes, he made the team better. You're right; no doubt about that. He took a rotten team and made them respectable. But he was the #1 pick, and the Falcons had to trade with the Chargers (who got LT with the switched pick) to get him. At that level, and the way he was paid, expectations were higher. The team would expect more success for a longer period of time. If he was a 3rd or 4th rd pick who got a shot and produced for a few seasons...sure. But Vick was drafted to be the face of the franchise. There were some dividends on that investment, but not enough to justify what they did to get and keep him. Eli has led the Giants to the playoffs three times, but fans are just getting the feeling now that, after winning a playoff game, he's becoming "worth it." And the jury is still out. He'll need to accomplish even more during his career. If it was, say, Matt Schaub, expectations would be lower. Three playoff berths for the Texans and they'll name a street after him.

 

[SSOG]

I think he was a failure because he only reached one conference championship game, and they didn't even win it. When you're the #1 pick overall, expectations are higher than that.

IIRC his team was horrible the year before he got there, went something like 2-11 when he got injured one year, went 0-1 last year without him, and were obviously horrible this year....yet with him they were solid playoff contenders. Seems kinda unfair to pin that on him considering those facts, no?

Not really. Yes, he made the team better. You're right; no doubt about that. He took a rotten team and made them respectable. But he was the #1 pick, and the Falcons had to trade with the Chargers (who got LT with the switched pick) to get him. At that level, and the way he was paid, expectations were higher. The team would expect more success for a longer period of time. If he was a 3rd or 4th rd pick who got a shot and produced for a few seasons...sure. But Vick was drafted to be the face of the franchise. There were some dividends on that investment, but not enough to justify what they did to get and keep him. Eli has led the Giants to the playoffs three times, but fans are just getting the feeling now that, after winning a playoff game, he's becoming "worth it." And the jury is still out. He'll need to accomplish even more during his career. If it was, say, Matt Schaub, expectations would be lower. Three playoff berths for the Texans and they'll name a street after him.

You keep mentioning how much Vick was paid. I think that's entirely the wrong prism through which to evaluate Vick, since he was more than worth it in simple cost-based terms. I mean, look at Falcons ticket sales with and without Vick. Look at merchandising with and without Vick. Blank made far more money off of Vick than he wound up paying to Vick. He was more than worth what he was paid... the only question is whether he was worth the hype, the cap hit, or the spot on the field.

 

[Andy Herron]

If you're going to ask if he was a failure, then, in turn, you have to ask if he was a success.

It would have to be one or the other.

Failure.

 

[Steeler07]

So are we talking about him as a player or as a person? "As a player - No, as a person - Yes"

And too many options.

 

[randall146]

Number 1 overall pick at quarterback

At one time the highest paid player in NFL history

2 total career playoff appearances

2 total career playoff wins

Out of football in 6 years

Pretty sure that's the resume of a failure.

 

[thayman]

I think he was a failure because he only reached one conference championship game, and they didn't even win it. When you're the #1 pick overall, expectations are higher than that.

IIRC his team was horrible the year before he got there, went something like 2-11 when he got injured one year, went 0-1 last year without him, and were obviously horrible this year....yet with him they were solid playoff contenders. Seems kinda unfair to pin that on him considering those facts, no?

Not really. Yes, he made the team better. You're right; no doubt about that. He took a rotten team and made them respectable. But he was the #1 pick, and the Falcons had to trade with the Chargers (who got LT with the switched pick) to get him. At that level, and the way he was paid, expectations were higher. The team would expect more success for a longer period of time. If he was a 3rd or 4th rd pick who got a shot and produced for a few seasons...sure. But Vick was drafted to be the face of the franchise. There were some dividends on that investment, but not enough to justify what they did to get and keep him.

Eli has led the Giants to the playoffs three times, but fans are just getting the feeling now that, after winning a playoff game, he's becoming "worth it." And the jury is still out. He'll need to accomplish even more during his career. If it was, say, Matt Schaub, expectations would be lower. Three playoff berths for the Texans and they'll name a street after him.

You keep mentioning how much Vick was paid. I think that's entirely the wrong prism through which to evaluate Vick, since he was more than worth it in simple cost-based terms. I mean, look at Falcons ticket sales with and without Vick. Look at merchandising with and without Vick. Blank made far more money off of Vick than he wound up paying to Vick. He was more than worth what he was paid... the only question is whether he was worth the hype, the cap hit, or the spot on the field.

particularly the bolded part. A lot of people seem to be missing this, it doesn't matter that Vick was paid so much money.

 

[menobrown]

The end result is a failure and on the football field he failed to live up to what it took to acquire and subsequently pay him.

But, he was not a complete failure. He actually got people interested in Falcon football again and he got people to attend games. He got fan base excited about football fan this is no easy fan base to get excited. On the field he kept Atlanta competitive more often than not and did not without a dominant RB, a poor group of WR's, and a sub par defense. In short, IMO he carried the team.

 

[randall146]

I think he was a failure because he only reached one conference championship game, and they didn't even win it. When you're the #1 pick overall, expectations are higher than that.

IIRC his team was horrible the year before he got there, went something like 2-11 when he got injured one year, went 0-1 last year without him, and were obviously horrible this year....yet with him they were solid playoff contenders. Seems kinda unfair to pin that on him considering those facts, no?

Not really. Yes, he made the team better. You're right; no doubt about that. He took a rotten team and made them respectable. But he was the #1 pick, and the Falcons had to trade with the Chargers (who got LT with the switched pick) to get him. At that level, and the way he was paid, expectations were higher. The team would expect more success for a longer period of time. If he was a 3rd or 4th rd pick who got a shot and produced for a few seasons...sure. But Vick was drafted to be the face of the franchise. There were some dividends on that investment, but not enough to justify what they did to get and keep him.

Eli has led the Giants to the playoffs three times, but fans are just getting the feeling now that, after winning a playoff game, he's becoming "worth it." And the jury is still out. He'll need to accomplish even more during his career. If it was, say, Matt Schaub, expectations would be lower. Three playoff berths for the Texans and they'll name a street after him.

You keep mentioning how much Vick was paid. I think that's entirely the wrong prism through which to evaluate Vick, since he was more than worth it in simple cost-based terms. I mean, look at Falcons ticket sales with and without Vick. Look at merchandising with and without Vick. Blank made far more money off of Vick than he wound up paying to Vick. He was more than worth what he was paid... the only question is whether he was worth the hype, the cap hit, or the spot on the field.

particularly the bolded part. A lot of people seem to be missing this, it doesn't matter that Vick was paid so much money.

It matters quite a bit in a salary cap league. If a guy doesn't perform up to his contract it cripples the team competitively.

 

[Da Guru]

The end result is a failure and on the football field he failed to live up to what it took to acquire and subsequently pay him.But, he was not a complete failure. He actually got people interested in Falcon football again and he got people to attend games. He got fan base excited about football fan this is no easy fan base to get excited. On the field he kept Atlanta competitive more often than not and did not without a dominant RB, a poor group of WR's, and a sub par defense. In short, IMO he carried the team.

I agree with that.Vick was a below average qB that was fun to watch. Vick is the type of QB you like to watch play, but you don`t want him on your team.

 

[Iwannabeacowboybaby!]

Yes as a player because he let his team down.

 

[Mister Martie]

He was tremendously overrated early in his career, and tremendously UNDERRATED late in his career.

Throwing out his running ability, because he was a QB, is completely absurd. He was an elite QB in 2002, but never got back to that kind of performance.

 

[thayman]

I think he was a failure because he only reached one conference championship game, and they didn't even win it. When you're the #1 pick overall, expectations are higher than that.

IIRC his team was horrible the year before he got there, went something like 2-11 when he got injured one year, went 0-1 last year without him, and were obviously horrible this year....yet with him they were solid playoff contenders. Seems kinda unfair to pin that on him considering those facts, no?

Not really. Yes, he made the team better. You're right; no doubt about that. He took a rotten team and made them respectable. But he was the #1 pick, and the Falcons had to trade with the Chargers (who got LT with the switched pick) to get him. At that level, and the way he was paid, expectations were higher. The team would expect more success for a longer period of time. If he was a 3rd or 4th rd pick who got a shot and produced for a few seasons...sure. But Vick was drafted to be the face of the franchise. There were some dividends on that investment, but not enough to justify what they did to get and keep him.

Eli has led the Giants to the playoffs three times, but fans are just getting the feeling now that, after winning a playoff game, he's becoming "worth it." And the jury is still out. He'll need to accomplish even more during his career. If it was, say, Matt Schaub, expectations would be lower. Three playoff berths for the Texans and they'll name a street after him.

You keep mentioning how much Vick was paid. I think that's entirely the wrong prism through which to evaluate Vick, since he was more than worth it in simple cost-based terms. I mean, look at Falcons ticket sales with and without Vick. Look at merchandising with and without Vick. Blank made far more money off of Vick than he wound up paying to Vick. He was more than worth what he was paid... the only question is whether he was worth the hype, the cap hit, or the spot on the field.

particularly the bolded part. A lot of people seem to be missing this, it doesn't matter that Vick was paid so much money.

It matters quite a bit in a salary cap league. If a guy doesn't perform up to his contract it cripples the team competitively.

Not to the owner it doesn't. Like SSOG posted above, look at the Falcons attendance/marketing numbers before and after Vick. Arthur Blank, like the other 30 owners in the league, bought their teams to make money.

 

[Maroney=Speed]

Funny. How SD got better with two players.

Vick and Eli.