Michael Vick certainly doesn’t want a quarterback competition. But he’s going to get one, probably from Nick Foles. And though many pundits are high on Matt Barkley, his name never seems to come up in the discussion, something that Barkley has noticed… and doesn’t like: [NJ.com]

“There is an open competition,” said Barkley, the Eagles’ fourth-round pick in this year’s draft. “Whether you feel like it or not, it’s there. I absolutely feel like I have to be a part of it.”

“Regardless of what they’re going to say, you’re mindset has to be that you’re in the race to start,” he said. “Whether it’s a special-teamer or with the third string, you have to be ready to go in. You have to have that mindset if you’re a player on Sunday. That’s my mindset. I’m in competition regardless of whatever anyone else is saying.”

“It’s a little different being in that position with the different teams,” Barkley said. “But nonetheless you are still capable of showing what you can do and how you can manage the offense. And at the same time, how can you elevate the guys around you? That’s what they want to see.”

Aww. He’s so cute.

And thus begins this weird three-way between an aging, ex-con former superstar… Napolean Dynamite… and blonde, boyishly good-looking Matt Barkley, who has now officially tossed his name into the fray. I feel like Barkley is oblivious to the caldron that he is about to enter. Reams of sweaty, slightly overweight Eagles beat reporters nipping at his sculpted calves for a quote, comment or nugget of pithiness following each and every practice over the next two weeks. But he doesn’t care. He’s Matt Barkley– USC grad, keeper of smokeshow wife, rider of steerage, Eagles quarterback in waiting. Just an open competition, man.