Former NFL player Matt Bowen of NationalFootballPost.com is not buying the idea that the Eagles could potentially wait until the preseason before dealing quarterback Michael Vick.

Bowen believes that if one of the 31 other teams approached the Eagles with the right offer today, it's hard to imagine Andy Reid and Co. would turn it down.

Bowen writes: "It is hard not to imagine that the Eagles aren't slowly playing the rest of the league when it comes to Vick — because there is interest in the former Falcons starter. We have heard his name mentioned in Buffalo and in St. Louis, but anyone who follows the league knows that if a deal is made, it would most likely come before the draft."

Bowen says that if a team is serious about acquiring Vick and inserting him as a starter, then a deal must be struck before the spring mini-camps and OTAs.

"He needs to be there. He needs to be in the playbook, in the meeting room and so on," Bowen writes.

Citing sources from two teams who are in the market for a quarterback, NFL.com's Jason LaCanfora wrote earlier this week that he doesn't expect Vick to be dealt until the preseason "when his value could be enhanced by strong preseason performances, a full off-season of work with his team and injuries/uncertainty for other teams at the quarterback position."

The bottom line, according to LaCanfora, is that there's not enough motive for the Eagles to pull off any type of trade at the moment.

However, Bowen has serious reservations about that.

"What value would the QB have then? Maybe a backup role in another city, but to expect a team to come in — with injury issues at their quarterback position — and make an offer for Vick in August just isn't sitting well with me," Bowen writes.

Bottom line, per Bowen, "Vick is an expendable player for the Eagles. It will just take the right offer to get some talk going."

Certainly, the debate will continue until teams begin wheeling and dealing when free agency begins on March 5.

-- Posted by Bob Kent, 3:30 p.m., February 21