By: Jake Rajala

The college football god, Madden cheat code, and the former dazzling dual-threat quarterback in the NFL, Michael Vick, officially hung up his cleats in the 2015 off-season. It wasn’t clear that Vick was special when he entered the league in his rookie season, but he was clearly on another level in his sophomore campaign (2,936 passing yards, 16 passing touchdowns to 8 interceptions, 777 rushing yards, and 8 rushing TDs). Vick was second in MVP voting (behind Peyton Manning) in 2004 by way of 2,313 passing yards, 14 passing touchdowns, a whopping 902 rushing yards, and leading his team to an 11-4 record.

It was well-noted that Vick caught the wrong type of spotlight for his role in dogfighting in the year 2007. He was given a tough sentence of 548 days in prison for his crime.

After his jail sentence, the former Falcons QB returned to a new team that still had a bird logo, the Philadelphia Eagles. He was the Eagles backup QB to Donovan McNabb in 2009, but he rose to become the Eagles QB1 in 2010. In the year that Apple released the iPad Tablet computer, Vick impressively and inspiringly won Comeback Player of The Year.

Vick also shined in the 2011 season (589 rushing yards, 3,303 passing yards, 18 passing touchdowns) and ousted modest numbers in 10 games the following season (2,362 passing yards, 12 passing TDs, and 332 rushing yards in 10 games). Although, it was clear that he lost his spark and ability to stay healthy after 2012. The left-handed QB didn’t start more than six contests in 2013, 2014, and 2015.

With that said, it was clear that Vick enjoyed the true definition of a roller-coaster NFL career. A fascinating, pivotal question surrounds the retired QB: Is Vick a future Hall of Famer?

I wholeheartedly believe that the former Falcons QB with an exciting playing style and inspiring comeback story should eventually be inducted into the HOF. He wasn’t the most prolific passing QB, but he holds the record for the most career rushing yards. Furthermore, it should be noted that he’s had numerous ungodly seasons. He may not have a Super Bowl ring, but neither does Tony Romo (who is also a HOF lock in my opinion). I’d also like to point out that Romo had seven quality seasons and Vick had six superb all-around seasons. Vick may be overly critical of his HOF chances, but I foresee the NFL figure that re-designed the QB spot giving a HOF acceptance speech and being cast into football heaven.

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Peyton Hillis is one of the shortest-lived stars of the NFL, with his NFL career only lasting 7 seasons and his prime only lasting 1 maybe 2 seasons.  However, his prime was absolutely astounding, and the statistics do not really show how amazing he was as a player.  With that, in this article we will be covering the career of Hillis, and what his legacy was in the NFL.  

Denver Broncos Stint

Peyton would start off a Denver Bronco in his career, being drafted in the 7^th round of the 2008 draft by them at pick 227.  He was initially viewed as the starting fullback for the Broncos due to his large frame at 6’2” 250 pounds.  However, due to the most random circumstances ever with the first five running backs on the depth chart getting injured, he would become the starting running back for Denver.  In his first game, he put together a 10 rush performance for 44 yards and 2 touchdowns, solid, but nothing like his game against Atlanta 2 weeks out.  

Hillis in his third start (against the Atlanta Falcons) has 22 rushes for 129 yards which gave him Rookie of the Week and FedEx Ground Player of the week honors.  His season would then go on to be cut short however, as he made a spectacular catch against the Chiefs he would be hit from both sides and end up with a relatively large tear in his hamstring, ending his season (see 0:52 in the following video)

Hillis would then be traded after the next 2009 season to the Cleveland Browns, along with a 6^th round pick and a conditional pick for Brady Quinn.  This would end a tumultuous 2009 season, where Peyton got very little playing time.

“The Season”  –  2010

Peyton Hillis would then go on in 2010 to prove the Broncos wrong and show them that he should have received every minute of playing time available.  A season that is notorious for creating the legend of Hillis, and essentially was the reason he got on the cover of Madden 12 as his fanbase absolutely loved him.  By the end of the 2010 season, Peyton accrued the following stats:

• 270 rushing attempts
• 1,177 rushing yards (4.4 per attempt), 11 rushing touchdowns, 73.6 yards per game
• 61 receptions on 77 targets (79.2% catch rate) for 477 yards and 2 touchdowns

Does this sound amazing in the modern era statistically?  No.  However, for a team like the Browns, who were notoriously bad and had just rebuilt with a new head coach and quarterback, he was the spark of hope Cleveland needed in that season.  This season ultimately led to his legendary status in Cleveland, and in a vote for the Madden 12 cover, Browns fans came out of the rafters and voted him to win in the finals over Michael Vick.  Overall, Hillis had a short prime and was not the most dominant player ever, but his two seasons with Cleveland were the stuff of legend and will always be remembered by the Cleveland faithful.  

The post Remembering Peyton Hillis and His Legendary 2010 Season appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Jeremy Trottier

The 2020 NFL Draft brought in quite a new scene of quarterbacks, such as Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Tua Tagovailoa, Jordan Love, and many more.  However, only one of the quarterbacks taken outside the first round in this class so far has been given the reigns to start for his team, that being Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles.  He is also probably the most intriguing quarterback from this class in terms of the situation he was put in as well as how he performed barring potentially Tua.  As of now the Philadelphia have not made any major moves at the position to replace him, bringing in Joe Flacco as a veteran backup and Nick Mullens as a backup plan likely.  

With this in mind, it seems that Hurts is set to start for now in Philly, and depending on his performance, for the remainder of the 2021-2022 season.  In the 2020-2021 season he was able to accrue four starts, and really did not look to bad in them.  For reference, here are some of his major stats:

• 77 completions on 148 attempts (52.0%)
• 1061 passing yards, 6 passing touchdowns, and 4 interceptions
• 63 rushes for 354 yards and 3 touchdowns

In this article, I will be going over three reasons as to why Hurts could become the next great/elite dual-threat quarterback in the league.

Offensive Weapons

One of the biggest reasons Hurts could have success at the NFL level is that Philadelphia is really trying to put weapons around him.  The most notable being first round WR Devonta Smith who they drafted at pick number ten.  A Heisman Trophy winner last season, and likely a top three receiver in this draft class, Devonta Smith is really a viable weapon for Hurts.  Phenomenal route running, solid speed, and very good hands highlight the strong points in Smith’s game, and if he proves to be the prospect Philly is banking on him being, he should easily be WR1 on the Eagles.

The Eagles also have a plethora of other weapons who are all varying levels of talent and at different points in their career.  For those who do not remember, the last time Zach Ertz played a full season, he put up an 1163-yard season and was widely considered a top five tight end in the league at the time.  If he can come back in 2021 and keep a clean bill of health while also returning to the number of targets he has had in the past, he could definitely still be viable.  The Eagles also have Dallas Goedert, the next potential full-time starter at the TE position, Jalen Reagor, who has a lot to prove but was not too bad last year, and Miles Sanders, an explosive young running back with a huge ceiling.  

New Coaching Staff

Looking at how the Eagles coaching staff has changed from last season to now, it is quite impressive how they have completely overhauled the biggest coaching positions.  Starting with head coach, going from Doug Peterson to Nick Sirianni, which I think is easily the biggest move of their staff overhaul.  Sirianni is a huge 12 personnel coach, he has used it all of his career, and with two big time tight ends in Ertz and Goedert, they can easily do this with no issues.  He also loves getting running backs involved in the passing game, which is great news for Miles Sanders as it will expand his opportunities while also giving him a chance to prove himself as a versatile player on the field.

The Eagles also brought in an actual offensive coordinator, rather than letting Doug Peterson do both HC and OC.  The new OC is Shane Steichen, who has really worked his way up the ranks in a span of ten years, and realistically is a great option at coordinator.  Spending last season as the OC of the Los Angeles Chargers, he really proved his worth in utilizing Justin Herbert correctly, so taking another QB from the 2020 class and igniting their career could be in store.  The Eagles also moved on from DC Jim Schwartz, bringing in another coach from the Indianapolis Colts coaching tree in Jonathan Gannon.  Spending 2018-2020 as the Colts cornerbacks coach, he may be able to really bring the best out of Darius Slay while developing other CBs on the roster such as rookie Zach McPhearson, Avonte Maddox, or K’Von Wallace.  

2020 Campaign

If anything is going to prove how good of a dual-threat player Hurts is, it was his first game starting in the NFL, against the New Orleans Saints.  Watching this game live as a Saints fan was absolutely wild to see and proved to me that Hurts is ready for the NFL level.  A Saints defensive front-seven that had not given up a 100-yard rusher for 55 games (November 19^th, 2017) got torched by Hurts, when he rushed for 106 yards by himself in that game, while also allowing Miles Sanders to rush for 115.  This was quite the feat, as up to that point the Saints front-seven was a brick wall, and very rarely gave up big plays.  

Being able to rip apart a defense flat out such as the Saints’ on the ground shows some true skill, especially in your first ever NFL start.  Did the lack of film on Hurts at the NFL level give him the advantage of surprise?  Potentially.  But they had his college film to work with, and have faced mobile QBs such as Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson, and many others, but very rarely are they left scrambling to stop the run by a QB.  This at the very least shows to me his prowess as a rusher, and his passing that game was not horrible at all either.  17/30 passing (57% approximately) for 167 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions is reasonable in your rookie debut and was pretty impressive given he did not have a true WR1 yet.  Reagor was still developing, and is much better in a Z WR position, or even slot.  

The post Why Jalen Hurts can be the next great dual threat QB appeared first on Pro Football Mania.