DENVER — Let this article serve as your Rockies home Opening Day reminder that the franchise has drafted a pair of standout NFL quarterbacks in its relatively brief history.
You may have read back in 2022, when the Broncos made the blockbuster trade for Russell Wilson, that the Super Bowl champion quarterback was drafted by the Rockies as a second baseman in 2010. One you may not be as familiar with? The Rockies’ 30th-round pick in the 2000 MLB Draft: Future NFL star and video game cheat code Michael Vick.
Vick was the starting quarterback for Virginia Tech, and had just months earlier led the Hokies to the BCS National Championship game as a redshirt freshman. He finished third in the Heisman voting that year.
Vick hadn’t played baseball since middle school. Still, Rockies executives were salivating over the rare athleticism of the speedy QB.
“Seeing him on the tube, he was one of the best athletes in the country,” Rockies scouting executive Danny Montgomery told The Undefeated back in 2018. “For us, it’s about opening the gate for athletes in our system, and we have no problems taking opportunities and chances like that to see if football players want to entertain our business.”
The infatuation was enough to draft Vick with the 887th pick of the 2000 draft.
According to The Undefeated, Vick met with the Rockies and considered taking a crack at a baseball career. Of course, he chose football and became the Atlanta Falcons’ No. 1-overall draft pick less than a year later.
Vick would go on to redefine the dual-threat quarterback archetype. He would throw for more than 22,000 yards and rush for another 6,000 over a 13-year NFL career spanning four teams, making four Pro Bowls in the process. He held the NFL record for rushing yards by a quarterback until Christmas Day last year when it was eclipsed by Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
