Draft Vick? You've got to take him. You know he's going to give you yards on the ground. With...
Oh, you were talking Marcus Vick, not Michael Vick? And this year's NFL Draft, not some fantasy football draft? That's different. Sort of. After all, any team drafting Marcus Vick inhabits the kind of fantasy world reachable usually only through some of your finer Amsterdam establishments.
The kind of world you had to be in to draft Maurice Clarett last year.
That worked out, right? That was an all-time draft day display of hubris by Denver coach Mike Shanahan? Shanny spent a third-round pick on a running back who had all of one good year of college-affiliated football, wasn't healthy for that entire season and had played as many games over the past two seasons as me.
Clarett signed a poorly constructed contract, then behaved most unprofessionally. He became a training-camp cut. Who knew?
Vick's in the same category: a guy with talent, but limited experience and many "character issues."
Let's just talk football, for now. We'll sidestep all the times he's been busted and his poor conduct on the field.
The No. 1 issue with drafting Michael's younger and dumber brother isn't that his yellow sheet is longer than you'd like but that his quarterback resume is much shorter than you'd like.
Vick started all of 13 games in the NFL developmental league that is college-affiliated football. That's barely one season. In those 13 games, he showed himself to be a nice college player, certainly nothing special yet like his brother.
Michael Vick nearly beat 1999 Florida State, one of the best teams of all time, by himself in the national championship game. Marcus got sat on this year by a good-but-not-great University of Miami team.
And even though Marcus' passing ability might surpass his brother's already, call me when he's got more gas in his gams.
Now, let's get to those "character issues." Before the gun charge, the misdemeanors, taken individually, just looks like Marcus Vick is stupid enough to get caught (letting underage girls drink with you? Speeding in a car with some weed? Oh, college students never, ever, ever do that).
Taken collectively, it tells you Marcus is too stupid to figure out he's one of those people with a knack for getting busted _ so he might want to be a little more straight-arrow. Throw in the gun charge and the Gator Bowl stomp to the left calf of Louisville's Elvis Dumervil show him as a little thug of cheap character.
Most guys who have multiple off-the-field problems in college don't become model citizens once they reach the NFL. Isn't that right, Lawrence? Lawrence? Mr. Phillips?
The only way you sign Marcus Vick is as a free agent. Or, if you're in the NFC South, to the practice squad where you'll get great use of him twice a year.
Or, until his next court date.
