It will be nothing short of a miracle if Michael Vick somehow makes it back onto an NFL roster, the obstacles he faces on the road to resurrecting his career are massive to say the least. IF he’s actually released from jail next summer, and IF Roger Goodell lifts his suspension, Vick still has to convince an NFL team to deal with a public relations firestorm by signing him. The day after Vick signs a new contract, representatives from every animal organization in the country will protest in anger.

So the next logical question is…. What teams should take a chance on signing this guy?

1. Detroit Lions - Honestly, what does this sorry excuse for a franchise have to lose? They’ve been the laughingstock of the league since Barry Sanders retired, and they currently have a void at the quarterback position. Even if the Michael Vick project fails, could it really be any worse than the decisions with Joey Harrington, or Charles Rogers, or Mike Williams?

2. San Francisco 49ers – The Niners have a great team in place, but they’ve been suffering at the quarterback position for the last 4 years. The Michael Vick of 3 years ago MAY have presented a problem for Mike Singletary, but I seriously doubt his behavior will ever be an issue again.

3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Jon Gruden wants Jeff Garcia off this team so bad that he’d even take a flyer on Vick to make it happen. Vick is obviously mobile and plays similar to Garcia so this could potentially be a good look if the Bucs front office wants to try it out.

4. Minnesota Vikings – Gus Frerotte is NOT a long term option, and in all honesty, Tavares Jackson is a low-grade Michael Vick as it is. Why not upgrade to the real thing?

5. Oakland Raiders – The first logical question to ask is.. Why would Oakland sign Michael Vick if they just drafted Jamarcus Russell?? The logical answer to this question is: Because Al Davis is an idiot. This is a team that drafted Darren McFadden when they already had 3 running backs capable of being a starter.

Oakland is the one place where the public relations hit won’t really matter much, and like Atlanta, Oakland has a sizable black population that will most likely embrace Vick.

6. Houston Texans – They suck, and they don’t have a quarterback. How funny would it be for Michael Vick to take Matt Schaub’s starting job again?

7. Philadelphia Eagles – This is definitely a longshot. I include Philly under the assumption that Donovan McNabb will be moving on at the end of the season. If McNabb leaves Vick could possibly serve as a backup until Kevin Kolb performs an inevitable tank job.

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Despite being one of the most highly touted athletes in the draft, Darren McFadden hasn’t gotten a terrible amount of love from the media up until this point. His off the field issues and the theory that he’s strictly a north/south runner lead most people to peg him as an NFL bust before he got to take a snap.

Darren took the first leap in proving the critics wrong yesterday when he torched the Chiefs for 164 yards on 21 carries. His lateral movement has looked just fine in the first two games of the season so far, so I doubt that’s going to be an issue (besides, the Raiders run the zone blocking scheme that emphasizes one cut before running downhill).

He has to get his ball control issues fixed, but the thing that disappointed me is that he let Bernard Pollard run him down in the open field. If you’ve forgotten…Darren McFadden ran a 4.3 in the combine…. he isn’t supposed to let a stinkin safety run him down from behind in a footrace… thats unacceptable.

How the NFL keeps scheduling the Oakland Raiders to play the opening Monday Night Football game is beyond me. They’ve won 19 games in six years and amazingly show no signs of improvement as time passes by.

Last night, the entire country got to witness the Raiders get massacred on their own field by the Broncos (a team which is not that good). Let’s see how the high priced signings did last night:

Tommy Kelly – DT – 7 Year/$50.5 million contract
How did he do last night? 4 tackles, Denver rushed for 142 yds total.

DeAngelo Hall – CB – 7 year/$70 million contract
How did he do last night? Deangelo was ABUSED by Eddie Royal all night, absolutely embarrassed. Due to Royal catching every pass thrown to him, Hall had 7 tackles.

Javon Walker – WR – 6 year/$55 million contract
How did he do last night? Didn’t play due to a nagging injury, money well spent.

Gibril Wilson – SS – 6 year/$39 million contract
How did he do last night? Gave up an easy touchdown to Eddie Royal, adding to his 9 catch, 146 yard night. Wilson did have 11 tackles on the night, which says a lot about the Raiders inability to stop the pass.

Darren McFadden – RB – 6 year/$60 million contract
How did he do last night? 9 rushes, 46 yards. To his credit, McFadden looked pretty good last night and would have had a touchdown if Jamarcus Russell hadn’t fumbled the ball in the 1st quarter. McFadden’s lateral movement looked better than the critics give him credit for.

These are individual players who are VERY talented, but happen to be employed by an organization so dysfunctional and clueless, they can’t put together anything resembling a professional football team.

They make me embarrassed to be from Oakland.