For years, Michael Vick has been heralded as a revolutionary player in NFL history. It won't be long before Hollywood documents the dual-threat stardom of the former Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles star, with the retired quarterback telling CBS Sports this week that a movie based on his life and career is currently in development.
"I wouldn't play myself," Vick said with a smile, "but we're definitely working on a movie. I think it's warranted."
He adds with a playful tease that the project could come courtesy of Amazon, which owns Amazon MGM Studios as well as Prime Video. It's a timely announcement, too, with the latter on Wednesday premiering "Evolution of the Black Quarterback," a three-part docuseries featuring Vick as the host.
Debuting just weeks after an NFL-record 15 different Black quarterbacks opened the 2024 season as Week 1 starters, the series pays tribute to all-timers who overcame mistreatment and stereotypes, like Hall of Famers Doug Williams and Warren Moon. It's also a testament to the way Vick, the NFL's all-time leading rusher at the quarterback position, normalized dual-threat talents under center.
"The game has already been reshaped," he told CBS Sports, "through me, through Donovan [McNabb], through Randall [Cunningham], guys who might not get the credit. ... In 2005, 'Sports Illustrated' front cover, I'm on it, saying, 'I am a quarterback.' That's because I was fighting with people and the media [saying] the style is not sustainable, you can't win a Super Bowl that way. ... I was torn on whether I should just try to be a pure pocket passer or just be me.
"Now, it doesn't matter if you're black or white," Vick continued, "as long as you have an understanding of the offense, if you can run and throw. You look like me, you look like Jalen [Hurts], you look like Lamar [Jackson], you look like Patrick [Mahomes], you look like Josh Allen. Now it's equal. ... I fought to change the game. I didn't know I was changing the game. I was just playing my game. ... But look what we got out of it: We got Cam Newton. We got Lamar Jackson. We got Patrick. We got Jalen. We got guys who are giving their teams the opportunity to win the Super Bowl."
It wasn't always this way, of course. Vick, who earned four Pro Bowl nods and became the NFL's first 1,000-yard rusher at the position, told CBS Sports he almost switched positions due to external pressure at the start of his college career.
"It almost deterred me from playing quarterback," he said. "If I believed in that [talk], and didn't push to play quarterback at the age of 18, 19, I'd never be a part of the change. And maybe we never see Lamar or we never see Cam or we never see Patrick. Who knows? It's a what-if. But God finds a way to make sure that everything is OK when it's all said and done."
