Michael Vick vs. Nick Foles has been one of the NFL’s most hotly contested quarterback competitions since training camps opened two weeks ago.
New Eagles head coach Chip Kelly will not name his Week 1 starter until seeing how both perform in the preseason, but all indications point to the veteran getting the first crack at the job.
Vick is expected to start under center Friday night when Philadelphia opens its preseason slate against the Patriots, according the ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio (via Adam Schefter), but both quarterbacks will see significant time.
“They’re both going to get reps,” Kelly said Wednesday (via CSNPhilly.com). “So whoever takes the first rep, let’s not mark them as anything. Someone is going to be the first guy. We’ll have a plan as we go through. We’ll sit down as a staff — how many number of reps are those guys going to get? And we’ll go from there. We do have to have someone start the game, but I wouldn’t say the guy who starts the game is going to be the starter overall, in general, as we get going on September 9. How do we divvy up Mike and Nick’s snaps? We’ll try to make that as even as possible.”
The two roughly split snaps during the entirety of last season, with Vick attempting 351 passes and Foles attempting 265. Neither cracked the top 20 in the NFL in passer rating.
