Why No NFL Team Will (Or Should) Pick Up Vick

About a month ago, minor-league football team the Albany Firebirds, issued a press release offering a job to Michael Vick for the league standard of $200/week, plus a $50 bonus for each win, with Vick promising $100,000 to a local shelter.

It was mostly a publicity stunt put out by a struggling Arena Football 2 team. The significance of the story is that the public backlash against this was so swift the team's owner was forced to come out the next day and deny any knowledge or approval of the deal.

So basically a stunt by a tiny and completely insignificant sports team in a fairly small town prompted a very significant outcry. What does this mean then for any NFL team looking to give Vick a shot? It's not worth it.

If we thought the circus that surrounded Favre at the Jets' camp last year or Terrell Owens at Buffalo's OTAs were bad, imagine Vick arriving for your NFL team's practices. He's the ultimate distraction.

He isn't the team destroyer that Owens is or even the repeat offender like Pacman. His crime didn't hurt any person, nor did it occur in a crowded club or casino. No shots were fired and there wasn't even a criminal trial.

But what Vick did hurts his image worse than any other crime committed by any other NFL player, current of former. Well except for maybe O.J., but that's a different story.

Some of Vick's image problem is the sadistic torture, some is the organized crime. These create an image more devastating than any individual act of thuggery, despite the fact the other NFL players show more distinct patterns of criminal activity.

Honestly I think Pacman and his posse are more of a threat to humanity than Vick.

Vick's fame is one main reason he will never be an NFL player again. His case was so drawn out and so devastating that no franchise can withstand his past. Give the Feds credit though. They wanted to take a big public bite out of a crime that plagues the rural south while bringing it to the public's attention and they did a very good job.

Maybe if Vick was a lesser-known player, maybe if his crime seemed more common and less sadistic, and maybe if the public weren't so desensitized to human vs. human violence, maybe then Vick would have a chance. Maybe if Vick was at the top of his game when he fell, or if his game seemed to be what NFL teams were looking for, then the risk would be worth taking. 

One thing we can't forget was his record of repeated lying to Falcons top brass, especially owner Arthur Blank. Blank not only opened his wallet with the largest contract in NFL history, he repeatedly defended Vick and would have taken a bullet for his franchise QB. Vick's actions repeatedly spat in his face of the franchise.

First, Vick did so with his middle finger, then with his "water bottle" and "mysterious substance." Then Blank gave him every chance to come clean with his dog-fighting activities, a move that well could have salvaged his image. NFL owners and execs belong to an exclusive club. They tend to stick it to those that screw them over.

Actually, the idea that Vick would go to a minor league football team, show that he still has it, do enough charity to show he has changed, and hope that the heat on him dies down enough that some GM gives him a shot somewhere on the field, doesn't sound all that crazy.

But that road seems to be especially long and hard for someone like Vick, who's intelligence is minimal and talent is fading.

I can't quite say that I think Vick will never be given a chance, but the NFL isn't the type of league you make many comebacks. If he were a baseball player he could go play in some independent league or in Japan. Maybe a basketball player he could go try Europe. Those are ways that disgraced professional players in other sports could stay sharp while the heat dies down. But football isn't like that. 

So that brings us back to the NFL right now. Will a NFL team take a chance on Vick this year? Will someone try to find a place for a once talented player who doesn't really have a position? No. Can Vick find his way back to the gridiron one day? Yes, but he will have to find a way to flip his image 180 degrees while still staying athletically sharp in a way that fits an actual position in the NFL. I don't think he's smart enough to figure out a way to do that.