ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - Michael Vick is making plans to get ready for next season despite the NFL’s labor situation.
The Philadelphia Eagles’ Pro Bowl quarterback says he’ll work out with some of his teammates on their own if there’s a lockout. The league and the players’ union agreed Friday on a seven-day extension of the collective bargaining agreement.
“Wherever we agree to be collectively. It may be Florida, it may be Hawaii. We’ll get our work in,” Vick said. “Being on the same page, timing, which is very important. I think everybody has to be on one accord, all thinking the same. Practice and film study are important, but just familiarizing ourselves with each other, that’s going to be big for us.”
Vick was in Atlantic City to receive the Maxwell Award for outstanding professional player. Eagles coach Andy Reid also was to be honored as the outstanding coach in a Friday night ceremony.
Vick, who signed a one-year contract with the Eagles after being designated the franchise player, said a long-term deal hasn’t been discussed yet. However, it’s likely that would happen once the new CBA is agreed upon.
Under rules of the current agreement, a team must pay a franchise player the average of the top five salaries at his position. Vick would make at least $16 million under this tag.
“We haven’t talked about long-term negotiations or my future. We just talked about what can get done this year,” Vick said. “I think that anything else that happens is solely on me. I think I dictate the situation based on my play and performance and my actions on and off the field. So that ball is in my court, I think. The most important part is going out and playing good football and trying to bring something to the city that we’ve been looking for for a long time.”
Vick led the Eagles to a 10-6 record and the NFC East title after replacing an injured Kevin Kolb in Week 1. Despite missing three games with an injury, Vick had his best season. He set career highs in passing yards (3,018), passing touchdowns (21), rushing touchdowns (9), completion percentage (62.6) and passer rating (100.2).
Vick was voted The Associated Press Comeback Player of the Year after missing two seasons while serving a federal prison sentence for dog fighting and playing sparingly in 2009.
“I always felt people always looked at me the same way,” he said. “I never felt that if I was in a room full of people that they’d judge me. I think they always showed respect and appreciated my presence, regardless of what they felt. So that’s gratifying, when you don’t walk in a room and people start formulating opinions and judging you on the spot. It’s great to be in a room where it’s all smiles and positive energy.”
Vick also explained why he canceled an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” last month, and said he plans to be on it at some point.
“I just thought the timing wasn’t right based on everything that was going on with the contract, the CBA and certain things that I didn’t want to touch on at the time,” he said. “I felt like I needed to do more in order to be on the show to talk about the past and to talk about the present and how prosperous things are and how bad they were and how we can move forward. I think when I do go on, it’s going to be outstanding.”
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