Eagles deny report they are considering cutting Vick

Jul 03, 2010

By: norris

The Eagles don’t deny there was a shooting at Michael Vick’s 30th birthday party or that they are continuing to investigate the latest episode in the always entertaining world of their backup quarterback.

But the Eagles felt it was important Saturday to categorically deny an Associated Press report stating they were “strongly considering releasing Vick.”

The statement was interesting in that it assailed the source of the AP piece; i.e. “a person familiar with the team’s thinking.” Vick still isn’t a lock to be on the opening-day 53-man roster. It didn’t attack what looks a lot like a justifiable parting with Vick, who returned to the NFL with the Eagles last year on condition he walked the straight and narrow on and off the field.

“Under normal circumstances, we would not issue a public statement regarding a matter still under investigation,” the statement read. “However, due to the intense speculation that exists, we believe it is important to make a statement this afternoon regarding Michael Vick.

“Following the incident that occurred in Virginia on the morning of June 25, Michael and his representatives promptly contacted law enforcement agencies, the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL. The Eagles were provided with very detailed information during that discussion as to what took place at the event. Those details have not changed in any way over the course of the last week. Our investigation to this point has confirmed and has been consistent with the information that was originally communicated to us.

“Furthermore, any report or speculation that suggests the Eagles are considering releasing Vick are not true. We will continue to gather information and monitor the situation and we will not have any further comment until that process is complete.”

Vick told authorities and the Eagles he left his party before Quanis Phillips was shot in the leg while the party was breaking up at a Virginia Beach, Va. establish,ent. Phillips was a co-defendant who worked with Vick in the notorious dogfighting case that landed both in prison. Both are on parole. Convicted felons aren’t allowed to associate unless permitted by their parole officers.

Vick has said he had nothing to do with the shooting. His mentor, Tony Dungy, said the quarterback was guilty only of using “bad judgment.”

At the same time, Vick spent a chunk of his off-the-field time this past season speaking to school students about making the right decisions. Being in the same zip code with another convicted felon, not to mention a shooting, are difficult to defend.

Vick is entering his second season with the Eagles. He’s a part-time threat, not the three-time Pro Bowl pick who terrorized the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons.

While head coach Andy Reid applauded the offseason of Vick, it was obvious Vick still doesn’t fit the offense and is no threat to unseat starter Kevin Kolb, who has taken over after the trade of Donovan McNabb.

If the Eagles are serious about their risk-reward philosophy, it could be difficult to defend keeping Vick at a salary of $5.2 million in the wake of this latest episode.

The Eagles were heavily criticized by animal rights activists and fans for signing Vick last summer less than a month after he finished serving 18 months in federal prison for his role in a dogfighting operation.

Team owner Jeffrey Lurie called Vick’s actions “horrific” and “despicable.” He said he did serious “soul-searching” before agreeing to sign him.

Though Vick was popular among his teammates, who voted him winner of the Ed Block Courage Award, he made it clear after the season that he wanted another chance to start. There wasn’t enough interest around the league to make a deal, though, and it’s unlikely there will be a market after the latest issue.

Just the idea of issuing an emergency statement starting with “under normal circumstances” is a pretty good idea of the extra maintenance it takes to have Vick on the roster.

Nationally Vick was voted the most disliked player in sports for the second straight years in a poll commissioned by Forbes. He topped Ben Roethlisberger and Tiger Woods, among notorious others.

For now, Vick is an Eagle. It’s not a lock that will be the case when training camp starts the last week of July.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 at 7:33 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.