Turning Over a New Vick

The offers will come as the day draws nearer. The San Diego Chargers insist they will listen.

But Michael Vick visited San Diego this week, and every time Charger officials talk about him, something in their eyes and voices says they will use the pick on Vick, not daring to trade the No. 1 selection in next Saturday’s NFL draft.

“We don’t want to be the Portland Trail Blazers of the NFL,” Coach Mike Riley said, repeating what has become the Charger mantra. “We don’t want to not draft Michael Jordan.”

Potentially more interesting is what comes next.

The Chargers have a starting quarterback for next season, Doug Flutie.

And they subscribe to the theory that even the most talented quarterbacks--see Daunte Culpepper--need at least a year before they’re ready to start in the NFL.

“We think we’ve got a pretty good situation now with Doug,” Riley said. “The best thing for [Vick] is not to play right away.

“A couple of years. A year plus. There’s no easy answer.”

In the end, the challenge might not be avoiding the Trail Blazers’ mistake, but managing not to become the Buffalo Bills, with a full-blown quarterback controversy.

Most of the country got its first good look at Vick two seasons ago in the national championship game against Florida State.

It didn’t take a stopwatch to know any freshman juking Florida State’s famously quick defenders out of their socks was special. Vick accounted for 322 of Virginia Tech’s 503 yards, rushing for 97 himself.

Now imagine seeing that ability in practice--and keeping it on the sideline come game day.

Rickey Bustle, the offensive coordinator at Virginia Tech, remembers what it was like when the Hokies redshirted Vick his freshman year.

“We weren’t going to be tempted. If we played him, he’d lose a year of eligibility,” Bustle said.

“If he plays for them, they haven’t lost anything. They’ll have to decide.”

(In retrospect, the Hokies should have decided differently--Vick left for the NFL after playing two seasons.)

“I’m sure the Chargers will be tempted,” Bustle said.

“But I think Doug Flutie can win anywhere he goes. If he does, they won’t need to play [Vick].”

That is the goal.

“He’ll be learning what we do,” Riley said. “Being around it all.

“I think the idea of watching another guy who has been successful will be good. Being around and experiencing it without the other pressures of carrying the team.”

So Flutie will be asked to mentor Vick.

Some snicker at that, remembering the friction between Flutie and Rob Johnson in Buffalo.

But Flutie said when he signed with the Chargers he’d take pride in showing Vick the ropes for however long, then watching Vick’s career unfold from his easy chair. (Though Flutie’s deal is for six years, that means little in the NFL because only the signing bonus is guaranteed.)

When Vick visited a workout Thursday, Flutie approached.

“I told him that I love watching him play,” Flutie said. “From a team standpoint, I would love to see him here.”

People who believe Flutie-as-mentor will work say that this time he enters as the designated starter, with retirement approaching, and that Vick will be more of an apprentice than Johnson.

Vick understands he is expected to wait.

“I don’t think it will be hard for him,” Bustle said. “He knows--and he’s the first one to tell you--the redshirt year was the best thing for him.”

Others will watch with interest.

Mike Holmgren, the Seattle Seahawk general manager and coach and noted quarterback expert, understands how it usually goes with young quarterbacks.

“Shoot, I still remember, Joe Montana was our starting quarterback [with the San Francisco 49ers] and Steve Young thought, ‘Good, I’m going to be starting.’

“All those guys have to come in and see the speed of the game. A young guy has to get used to that and learn a brand new system.

“You get guys who have great physical ability, but they’re not going to have success early. It’s going to be a blur. They’re going to get knocked around.”

But a player such as Vick sometimes gets back up sooner.

“Steve McNair, Culpepper, Donovan McNabb, those who have had the most success were the quarterbacks who could run,” Holmgren said.

“That’s because in their first year, they’re all going to drop back and not see anything.

“But those guys that can run can get out of those jams. The guys that can run have a chance to be successful earlier. Over the long haul, they still have to have the ability to throw the ball.”

The Chargers will hand the ball to Flutie.

And if no one talks them out of Vick--remember, this is a team that needs a running back, offensive linemen and reinforcements elsewhere as well--they will try their darndest not to play him.

Riley knows temptation would be strong.

“Because I know what’s going to happen in practice,” he said. “He’s going to be pretty phenomenal, watching him run around.

“I’ve hardly ever seen anything like it. He’s very gifted. He has a strong arm and a quick release. He’s very interesting, and so gifted running the ball.”

The Chargers are an organization still trying to shake the memory of Ryan Leaf, once also considered a can’t-miss quarterback. They know they shouldn’t over-think this one. They want to make the right decision, let Vick find his way, learn the system and learn how to deliver the ball through a small window that closes quickly.

“I think he’ll be very close as far as some of his abilities,” Bustle said. “Obviously, the experience factor is where he’s going to have to learn. It’s not like he doesn’t have the throwing motion or the velocity. Those things are there.

“It’s just that experience factor. Him playing for us as a freshman was probably as much a shock as far as the different level. It will be very comparable to what his first year will be like in the NFL.

“He’s a very quick learner. I think he’ll adapt well. He understands a lot about coverages. He’s not some talented quarterback who has not been exposed to different coverages.”

So it’s the Chargers’ move.

They’ll listen.

But for anyone to talk them out of Vick, General Manager John Butler said, it would take “a whole bunch.”

Someone asked before Vick’s trip to San Diego if there was anything he could do to spoil his chances with the Chargers.

“If he cuts in front of the chow line,” Butler joked.

Running back Fred McCrary thinks it’s a clear-cut decision.

“How can you pass on the guy? It’s like taking [Sam] Bowie over Michael Jordan. It’s not going to happen,” he said, referring to the Trail Blazers taking Bowie second behind Hakeem Olajuwon in the 1984 NBA draft. Jordan was drafted third by Chicago.

Bustle will watch from Virginia.

“Trade him away? I think that would be a big mistake,” he said. “He’s not going to be a great player next year. But he’s going to be a player you can build a program around.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.