The Philadelphia Eagles signed Dennis Dixon to give themselves another mobile, Chip Kelly friendly quarterback besides Michael Vick. But despite Dixon’s legs and his work with Kelly at Oregon, the Eagles are putting a lot on someone who was just a practice squad quarterback last season. There is nothing scary about Dixon’s resume, yet at least one player from an arch-rival is scared anyway.
According to NFL.com on Feb. 19, New York Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas went on “NFL AM” and said that Dixon, not Vick, Robert Griffin III or Tony Romo, was the scariest quarterback in the NFC East to face. He said it was due to Kelly’s read option offense, although Vick will likely have to run it as well.
Even a weaker, aging Vick is more likely to thrive right away in a read option than Dixon, who has only played a handful of NFL games in the last few years. Yet this is the first real chance that Dixon has had to compete for a job, especially with his connections to Kelly and the short leash that Vick will be on.
Still, even if Dixon thrives more than Vick, putting him ahead of Griffin and Romo remains a stretch. Then again, Griffin is now a second-year player and a very fragile one at that, while Romo has failed time and time again to take the Dallas Cowboys to the next level. The only truly proven commodity at quarterback in the NFC East is the Giants’ own Eli Manning, and even he stumbled to end last season.
Thomas does have a lot more to worry about than the Eagles and Dixon, however. He has suffered ACL injuries in two straight years, so he has a lot to prove no matter which quarterback he battles. For that matter, so do the Giants, who collapsed in the second half of 2012 and may not have many more years left with coach Tom Coughlin.
Thomas commented that he thought Coughlin would retire after 2012, yet believes he has “one more” season in him to “go out on top.” That theory will likely scare Giants fans in one way or another more than Dixon and the Eagles can right now.
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