Michael Vick is ready to gather the troops.
The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback hopes to get wide receivers and running backs ready for workouts beginning next week.
Because of the NFL lockout, the plan is to get together in southern New Jersey, according to Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News.
“We've had a nice offseason, a little too long," Vick said. “I wish we were in the offseason conditioning (program), but hey, we've still got each other, we can do it together.
“We all hold ourselves accountable, for being responsible for the success of this organization. We're all taking responsibility to step up as leaders and do what's right for us and the football team.”
Vick doesn’t believe being locked out of the team’s complex this past month has hindered his development. There has been some speculation he’d have difficulty building on his big 2010 season but that seems like a stretch to us, especially considering he really hasn’t missed anything tangible at this point.
“I don't think it's hindering my development; I have almost every game plan from last year," Vick said. "I can look at all the things we did as an offense. It's all still instilled in my memory - it's in the memory banks. The only thing I miss is being able to learn the new things, the new wrinkles we want to put in the offense. But that only takes me 45 minutes, anyway. I'm definitely going to improve. I play the game of football in my mind each and every day. I watch a lot of film. I replay plays in my mind, mistakes that I made."
How much work Vick and the team’s skill-position players do remains to be seen. Doing regular work to remain in shape makes sense. Anything beyond that and players could risk an injury that could jeopardize their contracts.
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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune