Oh no, we fear that Chick Ludwig may have lost his mind. While talking about backup quarterbacks, Ludwig says that the Bengals need a quarterback behind Carson Palmer that can escape.
QB Carson Palmer won’t survive playing behind this offensive line.
The team needs a QB who can run like the wind.
Bengals owner & president Mike Brown saved Chris Henry. He can save Michael Vick.
We hate this. Hate it. However, we think that maybe Ludwig is making a completely different point. He could be suggesting that we have no reason to believe that Palmer won't go down early next season because of protection problems with this offensive line. Therefore, with poor protection and an injured Carson Palmer, the Bengals would need a quarterback that could neutralize a pass rush by having a quarterback with legs. Therefore he's suggesting that the Bengals offensive line is the true point here, not actually acquiring Vick.
That's the only logic I can think of.
Vick is still serving a 23-month federal prison sentence. He was approved for home confinement, "released to his Virginia home as soon as May 21". He was originally schedule to be released from prison in July.
After that, there's NFL things to consider. Vick is indefinitely suspended by the NFL, which means Roger Goodell has to reinstate him. Knowing his hardliner attitude, but seemingly forgiving nature, we can assume that it's possible he'll be brought back this season. However, it wouldn't surprise us if Goodell suspends Vick through the 2009 season, allowing him back in 2010 instead.
There's the issue of rights. Atlanta has his rights through 2012 and teams will have to trade with the Falcons to obtain him. However, there is a likeliness that if no team looks to trade for him, then they'll just release him -- salary cap implications based under the CBA in which he's released, included. Furthermore, the Falcons could be on the books for him if he's reinstated and would likely have NFLPA issues to deal with.
Then there's the issue that Vick hasn't thrown a regular season pass since December 31, 2006. Two full seasons have passed. So there's an issue of being in football shape, his arm strength and has speed while sitting around in prison for 23 months. Would a release to his home in May allow him to make up the time that he lost?
Again, we hate this idea. Hate it. We hope that the Chickster is pointing towards the idea that the Bengals need to rebuild the offensive line. If he's serious about acquiring Vick, then we need to find a way to reverse the insanity that's consuming the Chickster.