They say that McNabb and Vick are friends and that Donovan was totally on board with this acquisition. They say that there will be this “wildcat” and it will make it even harder for defenses to defense than even with a health McNabb and a healthy Westbrook. I’m sure Andy Reid has some creative ideas about how to use him, and it will be interesting to see what happens.
Andy has always seemed to pride himself on hiring people with the right character. They have to work hard and be dedicated and competitive. He’s believed he can handle difficult personalities, and now it seems like he feels he can handle difficult public relations problems. Everyone is expecting all kinds of protests at the games now.
Maybe it’s some kind of cynical ploy to gain more visibility for the Eagles, a team—lest we forget—that has never won the Superbowl. Maybe they think they’ll make more money with Vick on board.
There are all kinds of issues here. The moral issues, the forgiveness issues, the “paid his debt to society” issues, the belief that he has really reformed and will actually help advocate for animal rights or something, now. There are also football issues.
I think it is a gamble that really depends on Vick’s character and whether he has come to have a much greater perspective on his life. He’s still pretty young. If he can work to help the cause of the Humane Society (who endorsed his return to football); if he can maintain a good attitude, no matter what his role on the team is; if Andy Reid can design a scheme that uses talent without being divisive (and most football players seem to be totally convinced that they are just cogs in the Reid machine, and will be dropped as soon as they don’t work any more); then this could be great.
A lot of ifs, eh?