Michael Vick Sets New Mark For Quarterbacks

I understand its strange to hear those words in the same sentence, but it is very true. Michael Vick is the greatest running quarterback in the history of the National Football League. Going into Sunday, Vick already had the record for must rushing yards by a Quarterback in league history, with 5,967 yards rushing, in a little over 12 years in this league. Well now that total has gone up. Thanks to his 39 yards rushing in the Jets week ten victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, it gave Vick 6,006 rushing yards (and soon to be counting) for his career, becoming the first QB in league history to hit that mark.

His best year running the ball came in 2006, when he finished the year with 1,039 rush yards in Atlanta, second most yards on the team that season only to Warrick Dunn. Now from a career perspective, Vick as a runner from that position is just so much better than everybody else. On the career rushing list for QB's, Randall Cunningham is second with 4,928 career yards, followed by Steve Young, who had 4,239 rush yards. That's one of the big things about Michael Vick during his career that has made him so special, is his ability to be able to create something out of nothing with just his legs.

At 34, Vick is getting another shot to prove that he can still play in this league with the Jets. Vick was drafted by the Falcons and played there for six seasons. From there, he went on to Philly to play for the Eagles for five seasons, before he was ousted as starter by Nick Foles. Once that happened, Vick was brought in by the Jets on a one-year, $4 million deal. This was his test to show he really can still go in the NFL, having done a decent job in his current role with Gang Green.

Michael Vick set a new standard for the position of Quarterback. Some people have considered Vick to have revolutionized the quarterback position, and a new generation of running quarterbacks. Vick had a great arm, but was more known, in his early days mostly, as a rushing quarterback. That's something you didn't really see very much of in the game before Vick got to the league. Sure, there were running quarterbacks, guys like Cunningham and Young. For the most part though, those guys had to run when protection broke down and had to do it to avoid getting sacked. When Vick came in and started doing what he was doing, it gave teams more options because they could use their signal callers in run plays the same way they would their running backs. Vick almost took a look at the game from the point of view of a running back as well, which is what made him such a valuable weapon to a football team.

Sure, injuries and age have slowed Vick down over the years, but he still showed that he can be lethal with his legs on occasion. If it wasn't for somebody like Michael Vick, then I don't think there would be guys like Cam Newton in the NFL. Vick brought on a new wave of Quarterbacks!