When former New York Jets quarterback Matt Simms came into the NFL in 2012 as an UDFA, Michael Vick had already played 11 seasons in the league. The Jets brought Vick to Florham Park in 2014 to back up Geno Smith, and one of the first things Simms remembers from that time is walking up to Vick, and declaring his respect with, “I was always you in Madden!” Years later, Vick had seen enough to know Simms had something special.

The two quarterbacks met at an event ahead of Super Bowl LX. And in an energetic yet candid conversation that Simms has now shared on his SimmsComplete Instagram page, Vick gave Simms the flowers he was due.

“This dude, man, had the strongest arm of any quarterback I ever played with,” Vick declared.

Simms’ numbers do not back that claim, though. Across four games with the Jets (in two seasons), he completed just 19 of 38 passes for 195 yards, with a single touchdown, a pick, and a 61.4 passer rating. His 2014 work, specifically, boiled down to 3-of-8 for 39 yards in a Week 9 loss at Kansas City. So when Michael Vick hyped him up, Simms didn’t agree right off the bat. He talked about his inaccuracies instead.

“I didn’t know where I was throwing it, but like I could throw it hard,” Simms said.

But Vick wouldn’t have it. He rebutted with, “It ended up in the right places.”

Vick wasn’t grading Simms off that tiny stat line, though. He is considered to be one of the quarterbacks with the strongest arms. But Vick bestowed that title on Simms, going off of what he saw when the reps were scarce, and Simms was fighting to rise above the practice squad.

“Y’all worked hard, too,” Vick told Simms. “I walked past y’all. I was in there studying. Ya’ll ain’t let it get involved and interfere with the work.”

Vick keeps circling back to that 2014 room with Geno and Simms, calling it the one he laughed the most. Even as the Jets slid through a seven-game losing streak that pushed Geno to the bench and gave Vick the Week 9 start. But even Vick’s performance was diminishing at that point. He ended that year with 604 yards and just three touchdowns across 10 games. Vick and Simms parted ways with the Jets after the 2014 season.

For Matt Simms, Michael Vick was already a video-game myth who helped him win Madden. Having seen Vick operate in person, Simms compares Vick to some of the biggest names that defined their sport.

“To me, I see you in the same light as Michael Jordan, as an Allen Iverson, as a Tiger Woods,” Simms tells Vick. “Do you really get how important you’ve been to just the fabric of the position and what you stand for?”

Vick, at the time of his retirement, held the record for the most rushing yards for a quarterback. He was also the highest-paid quarterback at one point. To this day, he still holds the NFL record for yards-per-carry – 7.0 yards for at least 750 carries. That’s the impact Vick left on both the league and Simms.

Even after their one brief year together, their paths crossed again in 2019. Simms moved to the AAF, getting drafted by the Atlanta Legends. Vick was already there, working as their offensive coordinator in 2018, but then moving down to an advisory role in 2019. Simms got just one start with the Legends, going up against the Orlando Apollos. The last stat line Simms ever earned for himself came in that game – 15-of-28 for 126 yards and two picks in a 40-6 heartbreak.

The Atlanta Falcons gave him a return window into the NFL that same year when they lost their quarterback, Kurt Benkert, to injury. But even that stint ended on the injury reserve, and Simms moved on to other things.

Now, Michael Vick is the head coach of Norfolk State, and Matt Simms runs his own private quarterback training camp and media work. None of them has walked away from football. Both of them are still tied to a position that demands excellence, but forgets those who didn’t make a splash.

So when Vick calls his old backup the strongest arm he ever saw, and refuses to let Simms laugh it off, it doesn’t land like nostalgia. It’s a scouting note that finally sets the record straight on a player most people never watched long enough to judge for themselves.