Michael Vick On Splitting Reps: ‘It’s Tough’


The Eagles’ three-day minicamp is over, the offseason program is a wrap, and the quarterback picture remains out of focus.

The first-team reps have been split pretty evenly between Michael Vick and Nick Foles since OTAs kicked off a few weeks back, and by the looks of it, the QB competition will continue through training camp.

ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio asked Vick as he was coming off the field Thursday: “Are you cool sharing time with the first team offense?”

“I mean it’s tough,” said Vick, per  Paolantonio. “I feel like I have to be a professional and put my commitments and emotions to the side, and just continue to work better. But it’s hard. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t, but that’s just what I have to deal with.”

If Vick is looking for a resolution to come quickly, he may be disappointed. Chip Kelly has stated that with a decision as important as this, there is no need to rush to judgement. He has a history of waiting as long as possible before naming a starting quarterback, both in the name of thorough analysis and competition.

When did the quarterbacks at Oregon find out who the starter would be?

“A couple days before [the first game],” said Dennis Dixon. “That’s what Chip Kelly is. Throughout training camp, throughout everything, throughout preseason games, you won’t know until September 9 comes.”

The question is whether that same approach will work on the professional level.

Kelly was asked what he learned about Vick and Foles over the past few weeks.

“Kind of what I thought. They’re both very coachable, they both want to win, they’re both here as many hours as they possibly can be, they both really work at the game,” said Kelly. “They want to get better. It doesn’t matter how long Mike has been in the league or what system Nick comes from, they’ve both really wrapped their arms around what Billy [Lazor] and Pat [Shurmur] are teaching them. It’s fun.”

But for how long?

“The only thing that’s in my control is what I do on the field,” said Foles, when asked about the QB competition for approximately the 1,oooth time. “What is me worrying about where I am in the pecking order really matter? I don’t go to sleep at night, sweating, wondering where I am. What I can do is work hard, come out on the field and be a leader to these guys , execute the plays and make the guys around me better. And at the end of the day I did my job on the field. That’s all I can do and that’s how I approach the game.”

Quarterback, by its nature, is a leadership position. Players take their cues from their signal-caller. Where do they look when a starter is not defined?

“They might look to both of us or something,” said Foles. “It’s not necessarily they pick one or the other. I think each guy respects every quarterback on this team enough where you can be men about it.”

It is still early June. We are more than three months away from the opener, so Kelly has time to let this play out. Vick might not be the biggest fan of the arrangement and the city is thirsty for an answer, but everyone needs to buckle up — this ride isn’t close to over.

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