Arthur Blank Is Nervous

It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Michael Vick goes down hard for this dog-fighting scandal. If the Falcons are forced to be without Vick either because of a suspension or just because the team doesn't want to take the PR hit of having another animal abuser on their team (let's not forget Jonathan Babineaux has animal abuse charges pending), Arthur Blank may see no option to releasing or trading Vick and taking a monster cap hit in the process. Such a cap hit would surely cripple the Falcons for the next few years as they lose players they can't afford to keep to free agency and have no cap space to get decent replacements (remind you of anyone?) And who would be blamed for this cap mess? The Teflon GM himself, Rich McKay, who not only gave Vick the $130 million contract with the enormous cap implications but also engineered the Matt Schaub trade which leaves team with Joey Harrington in case times get tough. Both those moves by themselves didn't look so bad. Vick certainly brings people to the games and Schaub hasn't really proven anything in the league to this point. But in order for both those moves to work, Vick had to keep his nose clean. And McKay will have to explain to Blank why he didn't have the foresight to see that Michael Vick + a boatload of cash = Police investigations.

Just about anyone I talk to knows it was only a matter of time before Vick got busted for something big. I personally have a Google Alert set up with the keywords "Michael Vick" and "dead hooker". With that in mind, it's no wonder Billy Devaney was recently promoted to the position of Assistant General Manager. The Falcons never felt the need to replace Tim Ruskell after he left that position in February 2005 (the article says 2004, but it's wrong) until now. Sounds to me like Arthur Blank is preparing for the day when he has to present Rich McKay with a resignation letter to sign. Blank is very image-conscious. He let Jim Mora go after Mora disrespected Blank by saying he'd leave the Falcons in the middle of a playoff run. If McKay's decisions lead to the Falcons looking bad publicly and losing games, he's gone.