Bob Ford: And now, Eagles have a big decision on Vick

The most curious aspect of the Eagles' decision to release Brian Westbrook last week was not the decision itself - that was self-explanatory and expected - but the timing of the announcement.

The move won't be submitted to the league office until Friday, the first day of the NFL's official 2010 business calendar and the day contract options must be either accepted or declined.

On the face of it, you can buy Andy Reid's explanation that the team wanted to give Westbrook early notice that he will become a free agent, allowing him a theoretically better chance to hook on with another team.

That's a fine explanation, except that it makes no sense at all. Every team in the NFL suspected Westbrook would be released. If any of them has interest in signing him, that calculation had already been factored into the off-season equations.

A better theory is that the Eagles will have some other business to announce on Friday, and they wanted to make sure their fond farewell for Westbrook wasn't lost in the shuffle of additional news. Despite the inane local blather that the Eagles somehow shorted Westbrook and failed to properly thank him for his service, it is more likely that the organization wanted to make sure its feelings were front and center. Say what you like about Reid, but he is intensely fond of the players who perform for him, and Westbrook was a favorite.

So Westbrook got his day, whatever you might think of it, and Friday will be for something else. It will be the start of a quarterback carousel that might just spin out of control before it stops.

On Friday, the Eagles will either pick up their option on Michael Vick for the 2010 season or turn him loose, getting zero for the trouble of rehabilitating Vick's image and devoting endless practice and preparation time to an experiment that yielded almost nothing.

There is a third possibility: that the Eagles will trade Vick before Friday, but that seems unlikely. Teams will wait to see if Vick is a free agent before trading for him.

This is a delicate decision for the Eagles. If they pick up the $1.5 million option, which would guarantee $1 million of Vick's $3.75 million base salary, then they are on the hook for a minimum of $2.5 million if they can't move him to another team.

Trading Vick is clearly their desire. He was a fine novelty to have around for $1.6 million in 2009, if you could get past the whole convicted-felon-puppy-murderer thing. But, even in a potentially uncapped year, the Eagles are about as likely to pay a backup quarterback $5.25 million as they are to offer free food at the stadium.

The problem, of course, is that the whole league knows they want to trade Vick, that they really have to trade him, and that has a predictable effect on his trade value. The Eagles have placed themselves over this barrel, and the other teams are waiting to see how they plan to roll off.

At the moment, the Eagles would be lucky to get a late-round draft pick in exchange for Vick, and that market value will remain about the same at least through the summer. The decision is whether, if they want to buy an extra draft pick, either this year or in a future year, it is worth $1.5 million to purchase it. Is a fourth-round pick worth $1.5 million? A fifth-round pick? A sixth?

This situation is far different from the one they have with the other two quarterbacks whose contracts expire after the coming season. They don't have to, or necessarily want to, trade either Donovan McNabb or Kevin Kolb.

Reid is convinced, as always, that the Eagles will compete for a championship next season. In his eyes, and in his words, McNabb is the best bet on the roster to take the team that far. From what Reid says, the organization is also sure that Kolb will be a good NFL quarterback, and is the perfect insurance for a Super Bowl bid should McNabb suffer an injury. (How much pursuit of Kolb is undertaken by the Cleveland Browns and new general manager Tom Heckert may provide a glimpse of what the Eagles' organization really thinks of the younger quarterback, by the way.)

In the case of Vick, however, it is not a seller's market. A team that trades for Vick, if the Eagles pick up his option, will presumably use Vick as a starter and be liable for the incentives in his contract. The contract has $2.75 million in very reachable bonuses for any starter, making it an $8 million deal. That's pretty hefty for a guy who might not be able to play any longer and who pretty much stunk up the field every time he was on it in 2009.

So, what to do? The Eagles' might keep Vick, and keep him right through the summer and into the exhibition season, betting some team will be in such desperate straits at quarterback that Vick's value will rebound. The danger of the bet is they get stuck with him and have to drive him to school appearances for another year.

We'll find out the first part of the equation by Friday. Not picking up his option, not getting a thing for their bother, would be an embarrassment for the organization. Picking it up is a significant financial risk.

It could be a messy end of the week. At least Brian Westbrook won't be tangled up in it.