The never ending story that is Michael Vick has taken another interesting turn here in the 2010 off season. After the Eagles season ended in Dallas on Wild Card Weekend it was widely assumed that it would be the last game of Michael Vick's Philadelphia Eagles career. In what has so far been a shocking development, the Eagles are putting out the message that they intend to keep Vick under contract for the 2010 season. Vick will receive his upcoming $1.5 million dollar bonus and will presumably be in Eagles training camp this summer. Vick's contract will pay him $5.2 million dollars this upcoming season.

Lets break this down. The Eagles are actually considering paying their 3rd string quarterback $6.7 million dollars to play football in 2010? Almost 7$ million dollars to a player who just came back from a 2 year ban and had little to no impact on the 2009 Philadelphia Eagles. For all the Michael Vick hype we endured last summer one would think we were getting the 2009 Brett Favre. This past season Vick was able to pass for 86 yards and 1 touchdown and rush for 95 yards with 2 more scores. Hardly impressive. Add in the fact that most of his production came against backups at the end of a week 13 demolition of the Atlanta Falcons and you find yourself asking "Did Michael Vick even play in 2009?"

We all know the Wildcat has been a hot topic for NFL teams since Ronnie Brown went wild in 2008. The Eagles looked at Vick as a Wildcat option and the final piece to a Super Bowl team. It was painfully obvious last year that Vick has lost his once elite athleticism and is no longer the running threat that once terrorized defenses. Though Donovan McNabb never openly expressed frustration, it was apparent that the Vick Wildcat package was more of a nuisance then a productive sequence. Andy Reid wanted to incorporate Vick into the offense and it just never seemed to fit from the start.

Vick has stated that he wants to be a starting quarterback again in this league, and it would seem logical to give him that chance. There are plenty of bad starting quarterbacks in today's NFL so why not let Vick attempt to win a job somewhere?. He definitely still has the rocket arm to get the ball down field. However, I'm sure Vick is going to be plenty happy to collect $6.7 million dollars next season as a 3rd string quarterback.

It would seem apparent that either Donovan McNabb or Kevin Kolb is the future in Philly. The debate over those two quarterbacks is fair and reasonable. Vick is not a starting option in Philly so why pay him like he's one of the team's better players. Even in an uncapped year Vick does not deserve nearly $7 million dollars. I thought the economy was bad enough for teams to not waste $7 million dollars. Fortunately, its still early and the Eagles still have time to move Vick. If not, it will be the easiest $7 million dollars he has ever made.