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Jets quarterback Michael Vick, who spent the last five seasons with the Eagles, made an appearance at a fitness event at Knight's Personal Fitness in Philadelphia on Saturday.

(Dom Cosentino)

PHILADELPHIA -- When the Jets signed free agent Michael Vick in March, every indication was that Vick and Geno Smith would compete to be the team's starting quarterback this fall.

But the competition already appears to be over.

Vick said so himself.

"Geno's the starting quarterback for that football team," Vick said in a brief interview this afternoon during a family fitness event at Knight's Personal Fitness in this city's Kensington neighborhood.

"Ultimately our goal is to try to help Geno become the best quarterback that he can be. Myself and [third-stringer Matt Simms] are all trying to put him in a position where he can get better from year one to year two."

Vick spent the last five seasons with the Eagles. In the run-up to 2013, he had never said Nick Foles would be Philly's starting quarterback. Vick ultimately took the majority of reps in training camp and began the season at the Eagles' starter, only to get hurt. Foles wound up guiding the Eagles to the playoffs, and Vick got Wally Pipped.

Vick, who will be 34 in June, remained a stand-up teammate throughout. But his contract expired after the season, and he made it clear he wanted out of Philly because he wanted to start.

"I'm still a starter," Vick told NJ.com's Eliot Shorr-Parks in January. "I'm not a backup quarterback."

The Jets seemed willing to offer Vick every chance to compete with Smith this season. Smith had posted a QBR of 35.9 as a rookie despite getting little help from his receivers, but his QBR was above 83 in three of the season's final four games, all Jets victories.

Hours after Vick signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Jets on March 21, he said, "I wouldn't say I would necessarily be OK with sitting on the bench all year. But I know what I signed up for. I know what I came to New York to do. First and foremost, I came to compete and be a helping hand for Geno, and he has a long way to go."

Days later, at the NFL's annual meetings, head coach Rex Ryan was asked if there would be a may-the-best-man win competition in Cortland and Florham Park this summer.

"I would say yes," Ryan answered.

On Tuesday, offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said Smith would get "a few more reps" with the first team at minicamp. But Mornhinweg stopped well short of naming Smith the starter—and even made a subtle concession that Vick could still win the job.

"Geno will get a few more reps, but not many," Mornhinweg said. "I'm going to try to do the thing right. It will vary day to day. Like I've done it in the past. Some guys at all positions, not just the quarterback position—and I tell the players this up front—some guys are going to get more of an opportunity than others. It's just that simple.

"Well, in many cases, the guy that gets less reps wins the job sometimes because they took advantage of what reps they had."

The Jets began their offseason conditioning program on April 21. Vick said he and Smith had both been at One Jets Drive "working out, throwing, doing a little bit of everything," and that "everything's going good."

It's not clear what, if anything, changed these last few weeks. And the situation obviously could still change, depending on how things shake out this summer. But Vick also wouldn't say "yes" when asked directly if he planned to fight for the job during training camp.

"I'm fighting to get better as a quarterback every day," Vick answered. "In the NFL, you want longevity, and the only way to have longevity is to be as consistent and as good as you can be for a long period of time."