Forbes: Vick more valuable than Foles last season to Eagles, money-wise

At first blush, the list boggles the mind.

Here is Forbes' new ranking of NFL quarterbacks, in terms of a stat called "Revenue Above Replacements":

1. Peyton Manning, $61.5 million
2. Tom Brady, $51 million
3. Russell Wilson, $45.3 million
4. Aaron Rodgers, $44 million
5. Drew Brees, $39.8 million
6. Colin Kaepernick, $35.5 million
7. Robert Griffin III, $31.8 million
8. Michael Vick, $30 million
9. Andrew Luck, $23.7 million
10. Cam Newton, $22.2 million

Wait a minute. Michael Vick? Really? Last season, he won the season opener, then lost three games, couldn't finish his two other starts, and his final stats were far inferior to those of his inexpensive replacement, Nick Foles. Now Vick's just a backup with the New York Jets.

Turns out this metric is only partly about performance. Jersey sales and social media also translate into value here, as well as attendance and TV revenue above league norms.

Check out this amazing calculation:

"The average Facebook follower is worth $8 to a company while the average Twitter follower is worth $2, according to an internal Twitter memo," writes Adam Grossman, co-author of The Sports Strategist and the president of Block Six Analytics.

With 2.5 million followers on Facebook, and another 2 million on Twitter, that's a whopping $24 million in value credited to Vick just because of social media.

That's also why the quarterback of the woeful Washington Redskins made the list, Grossman explicitly explains: "Robert Griffin's social media presence is one reason the model ranked him as the seventh most valuable quarterback in 2013." Griffin ranked only No. 29, in terms of on-field potential, by an advanced analytics index. (Vick was No. 27, Foles No. 12.)

Vick was also helped by a kind of fudge factor: "We also projected a quarterback's performance over a 16-game season to adjust for times when quarterbacks did not play, such as with Aaron Rodgers' injury."

UPDATE: Grossman elaborated by email:

"Foles was number 14 on our ratings. He contributed $17.2 million in value to the Eagles. This put him ahead of qbs such as Roethlisberger, Dalton, and Stafford. He was very valuable to the Eagles."

"The main takeaway of the piece is that almost all of Foles' value comes from his on-field performance where Vick's value came from both his on-field and off-field areas. ... Essentially, fans, media, and sponsors want to see Vick play more than Foles. Vick outperforms many other quarterbacks in these areas as well."

Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215-854-4342 or pmucha@phillynews.com. Follow @petemucha on Twitter.