Why Did Roger Goodell and NFL Steer Michael Vick Away from the Buffalo Bills?

Michael Vick conducted an interview with GQ Magazine entitled "The Impossible, Inevitable Redemption of Michael Vick." You can find a link to the interview here.

During the interview, Vick was asked what NFL team he wanted to play for when he was released from his prison term in 2009. He had narrowed his preferences down to two teams: the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals.

Vick frowned upon the idea of joining the Philadelphia Eagles because they had Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb, meaning that he would be relegated to third string, which was not very appealing to him. At least with the Bills, he would have a reasonable chance to start going up against the likes of Trent Edwards.

The Bengals had starter Carson Palmer, but he was coming off a mediocre 2008 season due to an elbow injury, which included a partially torn ligament and tendon, so there was a reasonable question as to his health for 2009.

But a funny thing happened on the way to pursuing his personal choices. Vick started to receive some outside counsel from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and other NFL officials. Through these meetings, Vick was persuaded to go to Philadelphia because it would be a better situation for him.

The last time I checked, the NFL commissioner was elected to his job to represent all 32 NFL teams, not just a select handful. Since when was it in the job duties of the commissioner to start influencing players on which organization to play for?

If Goodell's part turns out to be more of a minor role in this fiasco, then who were the other NFL officials that played a bigger role in this decision, and why were they talking up Philadelphia and talking down Buffalo and Cincinnati? 

Coming out of prison in 2009, the national public opinion was divided over Vick getting a second chance to redeem himself and resurrect his career.

If the season ticket holders for Buffalo and Cincinnati had been polled, it would not have been that surprising if Vick wasn't wanted by that many fans due to the hatred he had created over the cruelty towards animals he generated with his dog fighting ventures. 

Time has a way of healing old wounds, and Vick has clearly done a good job at salvaging a better public perception and image. Maybe it is a result of the better image, and that he is also unquestionably playing at the highest level of his game in the 2010 season, that fans in both Buffalo and Cincinnati are probably feeling outrage at how this story is unfolding.

Vick would have been away from the spotlight in either location and allowed to play football and earn his living in far less scrutiny.

But things happen for a reason, and now that the facts are coming out about how he became an Eagle, it appears that there is nothing much that the Bills or Bengals organizations can do about it.

It's not like they can ask the commissioner to head up a special committee to investigate himself.

It appears that some sort of conflict of interest has occurred, and it will no doubt spark some sort of exploratory effort to get to the bottom of what really happened.

It is bad enough that the 2011 season had to go through the labor issues and the lockout, but now we are learning about other issues like this Vick situation that will make everyone question if the NFL has the best interests of all 32 teams at heart.