Packers Considering Michael Vick

I wonder if Ted Thompson has any idea what good PR is? Seriously. Good PR would have been to release Brett Favre at the first sign that you didn’t want him on your team any longer. Instead, Thompson tried to play mind games and make it clear he didn’t want Favre. But he didn’t want to just release him. Nope. He let the fans instead go through the up and down “retired, no wait, not retired, no wait…” because Favre couldn’t make up his mind. Thompson didn’t want to be the one that pushed Favre out, so he tried to convince him he wasn’t good enough to play anymore. Let’s face it, it doesn’t take much to mess with the mind of a player that probably has doubts himself.

But now that the Favre saga is (finally) past Green Bay, there’s a new rumor that Thompson is having “legitimate discussions” about hiring Michael Vick. The majority of the NFL teams have said that they will not take Vick on because of the potential PR nightmare that might follow. But Thompson, now that the Packers could supposedly focus on football once again and not the shadow of #4, is considering taking Vick on.

When asked of this, he replied:

“Uh, what is the answer that we give to questions like this?” Thompson said. “We’re always looking to improve our team. We look at all options at all times. I wouldn’t care to speculate in terms of the odds or the percentages or anything like that.”

Did Thompson learn nothing from the time Ari Fleisher was telling the team what to say and not say last year?

It’s not that I don’t think Vick would be awesome. I think he’d certainly be better than the backup quarterbacks the Packers currently have, and even think he might give Aaron Rodgers a run for his money. But with the distractions last year having to do with Favre, I think even considering taking Vick on right now is a massive mistake.

In a very interesting bit of trivia, the Wisconsin State Journal reports that, “Vick’s cousins is former Packers and New Orleans Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks, who went to his only Pro Bowl with McCarthy as his offensive coordinator in New Orleans.”

The implication being that McCarthy and his magical coaching skills might be just the ticket to make Vick shine.

I disagree.

I think whoever hires Vick will be a team that can handle the PR that will undoubtedly come with him. The Packers clearly aren’t that team.

Image: Zuma Press