I don’t think Roger Goodell is likely to let him back into the NFL. Goodell seems serious about cleaning up the National Felon League image. Just look at the 4 games he gave Pacman Jones. He doesn’t want to spend another off season with all the talk being about Michael Vick.
Goodell is about money. In a declining economy he will do what makes money. If the owners consensus is Vick will but butts in the seats ,he will be quickly reinstated. The league has miscreants all over the place. They don’t really care. If he is out and ready for next season. I would be amazed if he weren’t given the OK.
Jamal Lewis came back after prison. Adam “PacMan” Jones got another chance, but look how that is turning out. Talent trumps character and Vick will get another shot. The real question is, IMO, can he stay out of trouble if he comes back? I think he could.
Has he ever recognized that what he did was wrong? I seem to remember that his public statements were all about how he didn’t realize the nature of his actions, but the implication of them were that he broke the law, not that he engaged in really horrific animal abuse. Given that, I think he could stay out of trouble only if he was able to understand legalities, not morality.
I have this vision of “Michael Vick’s Legal Primer:” “Today, students, we’re going to cover misdemeanors!”
The cynics on this board, the ones sure that Vick will be welcomed with open arms, have a point, but they’re forgetting something: Michael Vick wasn’t all that good a quarterback.
If Jerry Rice or Lawrence Taylor or Walter Payton or Tom Brady had gone to prison for a year, team owners would undoubtedly have lined up, checkbooks in hand, ready to do anything to woo them. That’s because those guys were genuine superstars who had brought their teams championships.
Michael Vick is NOT in their class. Not by a long shot. Michael Vick was a talented, exciting, but erratic player, NOT a superstar.
Which means that, while he will definitely get a second (or third or fourth)( chance, he won’t be showered with money and given the red carpet treatment.
SOME owner (perhaps several) of a bad team will offer him a chance to compete for a job. There won’t be any huge signing bonuses, nor is anyone just going to hand him the starting job. Teams will lowball him, hoping to get a potential star on the cheap.
But you picked 4 people who are arguably among the best to ever play the game. Of course he is not Walter Payton. Neither is damn near every other guy to ever touch a football, save a couple of others. Vick is still better than most quarterbacks playing today. He was a star player, like it or not. He won games, sold merchandise, and put asses in the seats. Someone will sign him if he can play like he used to.
While I agree with you most of the way here (especially about putting asses in the seats and having star quality), he was never anywhere near being better than most QBs playing today. He was good for the big play or the odd big game, but really inconsistent and it shows in his stats (his supporting crew kinda sucked too though).
But as to your main point, the guy was (is?) a tremendous talent and someone will sign him if he can still make plays and thus make money for the franchise.
Vick sold jerseys, but the Falcons are clearly better off as a team with the far-less-exciting Matt Ryan.
In the same way, Vince Young is far more exciting than Kerry Collins, and sold a lot more jerseys, but it’s far from obvious he’ll ever be a star quarterback.
Guys who make ESPN highlight reels aren’t necessarily great quarterbacks. Michael Vick will get a chance to show what he can do, but that’s ALL he’s sure of getting: a chance. Nobody will give him a long-term contract or any big money up front.
Leonard Little got to come back, and he killed someone. Vick will be allowed to come back too.
He made all the right noises eventually; “what I did was wrong/inhumane”, radio spots for PETA, etc.
He wasn’t a good player, but he certainly was a superstar- kind of like Anna Kournikova without the boners. He sold more jerseys than anyone, win or lose.
Plus, he might have turned into a pretty good passer had the Atlanta coaching staff and front office not been a bunch of complete freakin’ idiots.
Have a look at his stats for '02 (his first year as a starter):
For a first-year starter (in his second year in the league), those are terrific numbers… and that’s with Trevor Gaylor and Brian Finneran as his starting wideouts, and Reggie Kelly as his starting tight end. Gaylor was cut at the end of the season (his third) and hasn’t even made a roster since. Finneran is still on the Falcons’ roster but has never broken 650 yards in any season - except that one (when he had 900ish).
What happened next? Jim Mora, Greg Knapp and the West Coast offense. Square peg, round hole. They took a guy who threw a great deep ball but had poor accuracy, and stuck him in a system which stressed… short, accurate passes. If Dan Reeves (or Norv Turner, or any other “run, run, chuck it deep” offensive coaches) had stayed on, we might be talking about Vick as a HoF guy - for his arm.
He’ll be 29 or 30 when he gets out; not a bad stopgap for 3-4 years. If the Josh Johnson experiment doesn’t work out I wouldn’t mind watching Vick play for the Bucs…
I really do not believe he thinks dog fighting is wrong. It is accepted with the people he hung around with. It was fun and games. It was gambling and a macho sport.
I do not know if he will do it again. I hope he is smart enough to keep clean.
The word is he has thrown a lot and worked out hard . What kind of prison is he in? How can he practice passing in jail ?
I figure that most prisons let you play basketball in the yard, so I’d think he just needs to find someone to play catch with and get his hands on a ball.
I’d have no problem with seeing him in Dallas, but while I figure Jerry might take a flyer on him, I don’t see where he’d fit in. He could do cool stuff with Miami, I think, but I bet Parcells won’t stand for it.
Not an effing chance. While I’m not a big fan of the fact that you have to depict the Rooney’s with halos around here, I know they would never take that PR hit.
I don’t get it. Vick is supposed to face state charges, perhaps next week. If he pleads guilty to the dog fighting charges, they might allow him to get out of fed and face only state charges. If the state lets him get time served as federal to count on his state charge, he could get out early. Makes no sense but thats what ESPN just blurbed.
Not really. The Rooneys have been good owners, they are about as loyal to their players as an owner can be, and they (usually) don’t tolerate criminal behavior on their team. It’s not so much that they should be regarded as saints as much as they have been saints, at least when compared with their peers. If you have any criticism of the Rooneys, you are more than welcome to air them out anytime you want.