A.J.'s Last Hurrah (And Other QB Thoughts)

In my opinion, the crummiest outcome of the Vick signing is going to be the ash-canning of A.J. Feeley.  Clipboard holding backup quarterbacks are always popular fellows, but A.J. took that to another level in this town, mostly due to the way he saved the season for us in 2002, but also because of who he is and how he handles his business.

It's unfortunate that his one opportunity to be the guy, after the trade to Miami, didn't work out for him.  I'll always believe A.J. has what it takes to succeed in this league.  Maybe not at a Pro Bowl level, but in the right system on a team that doesn't need him to win games by himself, A.J. could have been a guy who had plenty of success.

In fact, the weirdest thing about his imminent departure is that he's probably still the Eagles' second-best quarterback.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a mistake to replace him with Vick, given all the things the new guy can do with the ball in his hands.  But if something b-- h------- t- M----- and the Eagles needed to win a game tomorrow, Feeley's the guy I would want on the field (liberally interspersed with a fully recovered Vick, of course).

But that's not the way life rolls sometimes.  The Eagles aren't going to give up on a 25-year-old Kevin Kolb just because A.J.'s a nice guy with a thoroughly charming fiancee. 

For A.J.'s sake, I hope he ends up in a good situation.  Although preferably one without a Boston address.  I'm fine seeing Greg Lewis in an New England uniform.  I'd rather not see A.J. standing next to him.

I sort of hope -- and would predict -- he won't play much tonight.  It's not like there's not enough game film out there for teams to make a decision about trading for him.  And it would be dumb to risk injury in a meaningless preseason game.  (Although a conspiratorially satisfying "high ankle sprain" that stashed him on IR for a season while this whole Vick thing played out would be a nice twist.)  But A.J. deserves a better sendoff than to be thrown out there with the dregs of the roster late in the fourth quarter.  Especially since the game isn't at home, so we can't even get the old "remnants of the crowd standing and applauding for a guy headed out of town" move.

A.J., best of luck in the future and it sucks to see you go.  When someone (finally) writes the definitive account of the Andy Reid Eagles, you won't be one of the headliners, but we won't be able to tell the full story without you.

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Now, for some subtext.

Phil Sheridan makes the bizarre suggestion this morning that Kevin Kolb should actually be the one shipped out of town.  His case:

But the smarter move - especially if Vick will be eligible to play right away or after a brief suspension - might just be to trade Kevin Kolb instead.

Feeley is 32 and didn't take a regular-season snap last year. He has played in just three games since 2006. That's three more than Vick, so all those issues about football readiness and coming back after a long layoff apply to Feeley as well. Other teams aren't apt to give up much in trade for a guy with those limitations and a $1.4 million salary - the prudent move would be to wait for him to be released.

Kolb has not dazzled in his limited playing time, but he still is seen as a young guy who has apprenticed with good coaches in an offensive system that remains prevalent around the league. A team that liked him coming out in the 2007 draft and that needs QB depth may well be willing to part with a player or a draft pick to get Kolb.

The other reason to move Kolb is the ever more apparent fact that Vick will be the No. 2 quarterback behind Donovan McNabb as soon as he is eligible to play.

"I think Andy Reid, from my talks with him, was just looking at the New England situation and the fact that Tom Brady got hurt [last year]," Dungy said. "He had an opportunity to get someone who can run the offense the same way, can do some of the same things [as McNabb]. It's not that often that you have the chance to get a quarterback that can be a Pro Bowl guy."

Follow the bouncing football. If Reid wanted someone who can run the offense the way McNabb does - keeping plays alive with his elusiveness - then he didn't think he had that guy in Kolb.

I don't have an issue with the first point.  Kolb would certainly attract more trade interest than Feeley.  But isn't that sort of why we want to keep him? 

If we really wanted to get some value in a trade and lock in that backup tight end position, we could just put McNabb on the market.  Denver would probably send over every tight end they have plus Brian Dawkins if we put that out there.

Hyperbolic bloggery aside, the real issue I have with the argument above is the second part.  Dungy's take seems like a complete misreading of the history between Reid and McNabb, and how Reid wants the QB position played. 

McNabb's ability to run with the ball has never been the focal point of the Reid WCO.  It was a bonus; an added weapon that could lift the team when the traditional running game wasn't working or that year's pack of crappy receivers couldn't get off the bump-and-run.

Put it this way, if Andy Reid really thought having a quarterback with a howitzer arm and legs like a deer was critical to the success of his system, then why in the heck did he draft Kevin Kolb? 

I mean, this is a group that drafted Tony Hunt.  So you can't completely rule out the idea they could screw up system fit evaluation, but at the quarterback position, with a guy Reid supposedly coveted for years, it doesn't seem all that likely.

This all ties into a larger point, which is that I think the general mood is shifting way too far to the negative on Kolb's prospects. 

It's no secret I never liked the pick.  It seemed like the wrong move at the wrong time and besides, who the hell was Kevin Kolb?

With that said, I think the Eagles' plan since that draft has been executed perfectly.  As long as McNabb's still healthy, he's the guy.  And if this year goes smoothly, the Eagles probably need to think about drafting their next quarterback of the future in the coming draft, because Kolb's not going to stick around and stand on the sidelines forever. 

But the bottom line is that Kolb doesn't look great when he comes in to replace McNabb because he's coming in to replace McNabb.  Our basis for comparison is completely screwed up.  Of course he's not going to look as comfortable in the offense -- McNabb's been doing this for a decade.  Of course his arm's going to look like a pop gun, not because it is, but because McNabb's got a cannon. 

I firmly believe the number one reason McNabb gets as much crap as he does is because our collective fan perception of how difficult it is to play the quarterback position in the NFL is so completely skewed by what he's done the last 10 years.  It's like we need another Mike McMahon season just to remember how most of the rest of the league lives.

I don't know how good a quarterback Kevin Kolb is going to end up being.  No one does at this point.  But let's at least let him play a few games before we mount him on the whipping boy rack.

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Jeff McLane:

An Eagles spokesman denied an ESPN report last night that the team expected NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to say before the deadline when Vick would be able to play.

A team source said the Eagles had not been told when Goodell would decide.

Les Bowen:

A source close to the situation last night said a ruling on Michael Vick's reinstatement seems likely before Saturday's 6 p.m. roster cutdown to the regular-season limit of 53.

The source was commenting on an ESPN.com report yesterday that said the Eagles expect to know Vick's status by then. Eagles spokesman Derek Boyko said last night that the team does not know when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will rule.

Advantage LB for now.  I guess we'll see whose anonymous source had it right by Saturday.

(One possible hint?  Vick's meeting with Goodell today.)