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Michael Vick Suits Up: A Comeback Story

Updated: 08/28/2020 by Financial Samurai 7 Comments

Michael Vick – A Second Chance Or No?

When Michael Vick was convicted of animal cruelty a couple years ago, he lost everything. Particularly painful was his $135 million multi-year guarantee contract from the Atlanta Falcons. Probably even more painful was the shame he felt and the 18 month experience in the slammer. He’s now free and signed with the Eagles for $1.6 million this season, with a potential to make $5mil next year if the Eagles choose to keep him. The question on many sports fans and animal lovers minds is: Should Michael Vick be given a second chance?

The question really has two parts. Should Michael Vick be given a second chance in the NFL? And should Michael Vick be given a second chance at life? After some thought, and seeing his latest appearance on 60 Minutes, I’m leaning towards acceptance and forgiveness.

Life Of Michael Vick

At 29, Michael Vick is still quite young, but has already gone through a great deal. He could of easily retired young and wealthy but he screwed it up. Critics of his say he knowingly allowed the killing of innocent animals for entertainment. Vick doesn’t deny any of this and repents. If we are to believe in the legal system, then Vick has paid for his sins through an 18 month prison term. If we are to punish him more, then we are saying the legal system did not exact a punishment fitting the crime.

Vick is actively working for the Humane Society to teach children and adults around the nation to “love their animals.” It may seem like a joke, but according to the Humane Society, there are over 40,000 illegal dog fighting rings in the United States! This underground activity is largely unknown to the public, until Vick’s indictment. Hence, if Vick can actively denounce dogfighting and animal cruelty, perhaps he can help make a difference. And if Vick was never indicted in the first place, this entire underground activity would probably continue unnoticed. It is better to use Vick’s infamy to combat an evil, than just throw him away.

NFL

From the NFL’s perspective, they are rolling the dice on Vick’s reinstatement. What if he relapses and does something illegal again? Vick, after all was considered a leading thugin a cast of thuggish characters pervading the NFL. However, I would ascribe a minimal chance at that happening. In fact, Vick is probably the LEAST likely NFL player to get in trouble after what has happened. The NFL can be seen as a forgiving organization which gives people like Vick and others who’ve come from his background a 2nd chance to succeed.

From the Eagles point of view, they’ve made a solid business decision. The median salary for all NFL quarterbacks is $5 million. They are paying $3.4 million under the median by signing Vick, who likely still possesses skills much higher than the median quarterback. Good publicity or bad, the Eagles will benefit.

New York Times best seller, “Picking Cotton” discusses an even more traumatic story where a man was wrongly accused of rape, and sentenced to “life plus 54 years” in prison. After spending 19 years in jail, Ronald Cotton was acquitted due to DNA evidence. Ronald proceed to FORGIVE Jennifer Thompson- Cannino, his accuser. They are now friends, and their families spend time together. If Ronald Cotton can forgive, shouldn’t we?

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Regards,

Sam

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Filed Under: Retirement

Author Bio: I started Financial Samurai in 2009 to help people achieve financial freedom sooner. Financial Samurai is now one of the largest independently run personal finance sites with about one million visitors a month.

I spent 13 years working at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse (RIP). In 1999, I earned my BA from William & Mary and in 2006, I received my MBA from UC Berkeley.

In 2012, I left banking after negotiating a severance package worth over five years of living expenses. Today, I enjoy being a stay-at-home dad to two young children, playing tennis, and writing.

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Comments

  1. David@DINKS Finance says

    August 31, 2009 at 10:58 am

    @admin Haha wow. We were a playoff contendor WITHOUT Favre. Quarterback was the only position we were lacking in. Now we have depth and options at QB. Just having Favre opens up our running game SO much more. I don’t know if you were aware, but we have the top rushing offense in the league? Other teams can’t win, they are in a lose-lose situation – if they load up the line Favre is perfectly capable of getting a pass off for a small (or big) gain. If they try to load up the secondary AP will tear it up.

    Feel bad for us? I feel bad for everyone else! :P

    -DC

    Reply
    • fs says

      August 31, 2009 at 9:27 pm

      We shall see in the end! Adrian Peterson…. i’m still wondering if he’s the real deal.

      Reply
  2. David@DINKS Finance says

    August 28, 2009 at 8:38 am

    I commented on the post at your old blog, but what I realized is I don’t really care about Vick. My reasoning? I live in Minnesota and it’s Favre-mania here so it kind of overshadows any other story, even one of a tarnished star returning to the league after prison.

    Reply
    • admin says

      August 28, 2009 at 8:59 am

      I feel bad for those In Minn. Favre is going to bring great hope early, and then bring the team down again. What happened to Gus? It’ll be fun to watch Favre again though!

      Shogun

      Reply
  3. fs says

    August 27, 2009 at 9:34 pm

    Hey JL – Burning for all eternity sounds like a long time… how about a compromise and just for several years? :) Thanks for the compliment and thanks for stopping by!

    RB

    Reply
  4. admin says

    August 27, 2009 at 7:58 pm

    Vick went 4-4, and looked pretty good. Other than that, nothing too exciting. I’m sure he’s happy he’s back on the field.

    RB

    Reply
  5. JL says

    August 27, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    Great post. I do happen to be a bit more on the “He should burn for all eternity” side, but Ill leave it at that.

    Keep up the good work here on FS!

    Reply

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