Sources: Vick will be back

The Eagles will bring Michael Vick back next season, team sources said today.

Vick is currently third on the quarterback depth chart and is slated to earn $5.25 million in total salary. That salary would be an exorbitant amount for the Eagles to pay a third-stringer. But if he were to be the backup, Vick's salary would not be significantly more than what other NFL backup quarterbacks earn.

And with his additional role in the Eagles' wildcat/spread formation offense, Vick would warrant the higher scale, according to one team source.

"As a coaching staff, we all have confidence that he'll get in there and do that," Eagles coach Andy Reid said last week, referring to Vick's wildcat role. "He can run the offense, too. That part of his game. That's a neat thing."

This scenario, of course, presumes that either starting quarterback Donovan McNabb or backup Kevin Kolb will be traded. At the NFL owners' meetings, Reid said that the Eagles were "entertaining" offers for all three of their quarterbacks.

McNabb, however, has been the subject of various trade rumors and appears the most likely to go now that the team has all but admitted that he is on the market. There was a report earlier this week that Oakland had emerged as the leading candidate in a trade for McNabb and that a deal was imminent. But team sources have indicated that something may not get done, if at all, until the draft.

The team is already on the hook for $2.5 million of the Vick's quarterback'ssalary, having paid a $1.5 roster bonus on March 9, and with that guaranteeing $1 million of his $3.75 million base salary if they chose to release him.

But a source said the Eagles aren't likely to cut Vick and in fact, they aren't shopping the 29-year-old anymore. That may have something to do with the relatively low interest teams have in trading for Vick. And, of course, the Eagles could just be trying to generate some demand.

Read tomorrow's Inquirer for more on this story and the Eagles.