Vick has to be the starter. The Falcons have no choice because Vick's contract completely prohibits them from moving him. The cap hit they'd take to cut or trade him would be staggering.

The only way Schaub can start is if you bench Vick. I can hardly see a way a 100 million plus player sits on the bench for a whole year.

Trade Schaub. That's the move. The league is enamored with the guy, and with the complete lack of viable QBs out there chances are you'd get a 1st or 2nd round pick for him.

I'd approach the Raiders. Maybe they'll give you a 2nd and a 3rd so that they can trade down a few slots, pick up extra picks to replace the ones ATL got, and use their 1st rounder on something other than an unproven rookie QB. This they way solve their QB and another important need with one trade while not really sacrificing too much later in the draft. It also means they have a veteran at QB that is more likely to make them good faster than a rookie.

Atlanta can use those extra picks to move up for a blue chip pick or just keep them and stock their team with 5 guys in the first 3 rounds of the draft. That's the kind of draft that if done well can set your team up for the next 5-6 years.

This topic came up on the long car trip back from the Eagles-Falcons game Sunday (you know, the one where the Eagles 2nd and 3rd stringers beat the Falcons starters? That one -- I'll cross-post my game photojournal on BGN and The Falcoholic for your readers when I get it posted) with my friend, lifetime Eagles fan and Curly R and BGN reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery.

I agree Michael's contract makes it difficult to trade him, but the only viable way you can do a trade with Matt at this point is a sign-and-trade. He's a restricted free agent which means that once the Falcons have submitted a 'qualifying offer' for the lowest amount commensurate with his seniority, any team can sign him to an offer sheet, but the Falcons may have either straight up right of first refusal (ROFR), or have ROFR plus be entitled to a draft pick from the new team for losing him. I don't know how the league assesses what round pick the old team gets in exchange for the loss, but I think it's tied to where the player was drafted, if he was drafted at all.

If the Falcons do a sign-and-trade, then they control what picks the new team is willing to part with.

So if Matt qualifies for ROFR or, say, a 3rd round pick (where he was drafted) in compensation, the new team will have incentive to sign him to a deal big enough that Atlanta can't match it, because Atlanta would refuse to match and only be entitled to the 3rd rd pick.

If on the other hand the Falcons bring that team in and negotiate a new contract with that team and Matt, the new team gets Matt on the terms they and Matt want and the Falcons get the compensatory draft pick plus whatever else they can get the other team to agree to. So the option of trading him at this point is only viable if the Falcons can find a sign-and-trade partner they'd be willing to deal with (in other words, probly not the Buccaneers or Panthers).
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Am I missing something?  If Matt is a restricted free agent, why would the Falcons trade him, unless it is to another team that already has a contract framework in place?  They do not do formal sign-and-trades in the NFL like in the NBA, but it's close enough, with the new club being given permission to negotiate with the player for the contract and negotiating directly with the old club for compensation.

If they traded him to another team that did not have a contract framework in place, he simply could negotiate with any other team and the new-old club would risk losing him merely for the compensatory pick from the new-new team.  It doesn't make sense unless I'm missing something.

He's going to go out and test the waters and the Falcons are going to be stuck with the decision whether to match a 7 yr, 60 million dollar contract with a 15 million dollar signing bonus, or let him go for a 2nd or 3rd round pick.