Czar: That's it for Vick's NFL career
John Czarnecki
FOXSports.com, Updated 47 minutes ago STORY TOOLS:
Michael Vick's NFL career is over.
By accepting a guilty plea today on those gruesome federal dog-fighting charges, Vick won't escape prison and he could be sentenced to more than a year. He will appear before U.S. Judge Henry Hudson next Monday morning for his plea hearing.
No details of the plea agreement have been made public, but NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has no choice but to indefinitely suspend Vick.
Vick's next big headache depends on how much he admits to being involved in gambling on dog-fighting, how heavily he was betting and what, if any, involvement there was from known gamblers. The NFL has historically come down very hard on players with ties to gambling (look no further than legends like Paul Hornung and Alex Karras). And Goodell is very concerned about the gambling aspects, especially in light of the recent NBA referee case.
Michael Vick accepts plea
The NFL doesn't like to acknowledge how many millions are bet every weekend on its games, but it does want fans to believe that the games are above scrutiny and the mere hint of a fix could potentially jeopardize the league's popularity.
Goodell could possibly suspend Vick for one season for dog-fighting and then another season for gambling. And these suspensions will come after Vick serves his prison sentence. If Vick spends this season in jail, it means Vick could be suspended for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. If he gets 18 months, he may be suspended through the 2010 season.
After that, what would motivate the NFL to allow him to play again? Even if Vick attempts to rehabilitate his image through an unprecedented amount of community service and charitable giving, how many owners would want to risk signing him after this? Besides, by 2010 Vick will be 30 and more than a little rusty.
Last week Vick attempted to get Goodell to agree to piggyback any possible suspension with potential prison time. Goodell was unwilling to commit to that course of action.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank wanted to suspend Vick when the indictment was handed down, but in order to recover any signing bonus money, the team needs Goodell to suspend Vick. Blank definitely feels betrayed by Vick, but another huge problem facing him is how will his fan base — 52 percent of his season ticket holders are African-American — react to the permanent loss of Vick, one of the league's most popular players. Some of Vick's fans in Atlanta actually believe that Vick was unfairly targeted by the Justice Department in this case
But Vick dug his own hole here. Based on his plea, he lied to Goodell around the time of the draft when he said he was innocent of these charges. According to what his co-defendants said last Friday, Vick was killing dogs in April just prior to the draft.
And now it's likely all over for Michael Vick.
Since he entered the league in 2001, Vick has received more than $60 million in salary and endorsements. It's nothing short of ludicrous that he threw away such a career and earning power by being involved in an illegal dogfighting betting ring.
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