Wake-Up Call: Money On the Line for Vick


Michael Vick‘s renegotiated one-year contract is heavy on incentives. The longer he sits out, the more money he loses.

Vick received a signing bonus of $3.5 million and another $3.5 million on the first day of the regular season.The remaining $3 million of potential earnings is incentive-based. From Pro Football Talk:

He can earn a $500,000 in per-game roster bonuses; he gets $31,250 for each game he’s on the 53-man roster.  Vick gets another $1.5 million if he participates in 90 percent of the offensive snaps, and $1 million if the Eagles win the Super Bowl (and if he plays in it).

The play-time incentive has lower levels, with $$1.2 available if he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, $900,000 if Vick participates in 70 percent of the snaps, $700,000 for 60 percent of the snaps, and $500,000 for 50 percent.  The amounts aren’t cumulative; he gets one payment based on his total playing time.  Also, the Super Bowl bonus has lower levels, with smaller payments based on postseason [success].  The maximum available is $1 million, if the Eagles win the Super Bowl.

He’ll most likely be on the roster for the full 16 so that $500k bonus should be no problem. And he probably wasn’t banking on the money linked to the postseason. But the $1.5 million tied to playing time is of concern to Vick. If he sits out Sunday’s game as expected, Vick will have already missed 2 1/2 games on the year. Assuming that’s all the time he misses, he will play roughly 80 percent of the snaps this season. There’s certainly no guarantee that he’ll achieve that mark. If he loses the job to Nick Foles, he may be out of  luck altogether.

Seven million (plus the two mega deals he signed previously) is nothing to sneeze at. But Vick just recently emerged from bankruptcy and has no firm job security beyond this year. Bottom line, $1.5 million is $1.5 million, no matter who you are.

All the more reason for Vick to try to get back on the field as soon as possible.

WHAT YOU MISSED

Duce Staley goes with LeSean McCoy over Brian Westbrook.

The national media is showing Foles some love.

After some struggles his rookie season, Foles is connecting on the deep ball so far this year.

Which defensive player is applying the most pressure on opposing quarterbacks? Sheil takes a look.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Let’s check in on Chip Kelly‘s former quarterback Marcus Mariota, who is eligible for next year’s draft but hasn’t yet revealed his plans. From PFT.

As Peter King of TheMMQB.com recently reported, at least two teams would have Oregon’s Marcus Mariota higher on their boards than Bridgewater, if Mariota opts to leave school after the current season.

For his part, Mariota is mum.

“My family and I have decided to hold off on these conversations until after the season,” Mariota told 750 The Game in Portland, via Rotoworld.com.  “We’re obviously going to put the pros and cons together, and we’re going to do what’s best for the family.  At the same time, my education is important. . . .  I love Oregon.  I love the community.  We’ll decide when the time is right.”

Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News thinks the Eagles have the upper hand over the Cowboys now that their offensive line is healthy.

Peters, Herremans and Kelce are healthy and back on the field. They are joined by first-round draft pick Lane Johnson at right tackle.

And now the mismatch favors the Eagles. It’s the Cowboys defensive line that is battered. Five of the six linemen penciled in last spring as the backbone of that unit — DeMarcus Ware, Anthony Spencer, Jay Ratliff, Tyrone Crawford and Ben Bass — won’t be on the field Sunday because of injuries.

That leaves tackle Jason Hunter with a cast of street free agents and waiver claims to provide the resistance against one of the NFL’s best offenses.

COMING UP

Kelly will address the media at 11:40 before practice, and the QBs will speak this afternoon.