Mike Vick will have to win the starting job in camp, but that’s fine with him. The quarterback wanted to be back in Philadelphia.
Rikard Larma/Metro
Mike Vick is behind Chip Kelly 100-percent. He’s also behind Philadelphia, a city that makes him feel comfortable.
Vick inked a one-year deal — a restructured version of the deal he signed after the 2010 season — worth a base salary of about $7 million, with incentives that could push it up to $10 million. On Tuesday, Vick spoke with ESPN’s “Mike and Mike in the Morning” and told the hosts that he feels he can make it work with Kelly and the Eagles.
“I felt as if coming back made me comfortable,” Vick said. “Meeting with Chip for the first time, I felt like as if we can make it work.”
Vick said he is familiar with Kelly’s read-option offense having watched his Oregon teams play. While Vick isn’t sure the offense will translate in the NFL, the quarterback is more than willing to give it a shot.
“You have to give everything a chance before you count it out,” Vick said. “In talking to Chip for the first time, even though we couldn’t talk X’s and O’s, I could tell he was innovative.”
Vick has long been considered a run-first quarterback, something that has drawn both praise and criticism from the Eagles’ faithful. In 2006, a much younger Vick racked up 1,039 yards on the ground with Atlanta — and he believes he can duplicate that success with the right plan.
“It wasn’t hard. All you have to do is train,” Vick said, adding that he feels he can play another 4-5 years in the NFL. “I feel as if I can still do that. To what level? I don’t know, but the way I feel, I can do it at a high level.”
