Report: NFL May Reinstate Michael Vick
Michael Vick may be reinstated to the NFL next week, though that may include a four-game suspension, ESPN reports Friday.
The league is considering whether a suspension would constitute double jeopardy, since Vick already served a 23-month prison sentence and home confinement for his involvement in an illegal dogfighting ring.
Sources told ESPN that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is expected to announce the deal next week. Goodell and Vick met for three hours on Wednesday at a security firm in N.J. SI.com first reported the meeting at Buckley Petersen Global Inc. in Allendale. Though a reinstatement would allow Vick to sign with a team, several NFL teams have announced publicly that they are not interested in him.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello declined to confirm the meeting when contacted by The Associated Press on Thursday and insisted no decisions on Vick's future have been made.
"This is a serious matter," Aiello said in an e-mail. "We are engaging in a careful and thoughtful process."
Roger Goodell told the AP on Tuesday, a day after Vick was released from federal custody, that he hoped to make a decision "in the near future."
Goodell suspended Vick indefinitely in August 2007 after the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback admitted bankrolling the "Bad Newz Kennels" dogfighting operation. Goodell has said Vick must show remorse and signs that he has changed before he would consider reinstating him.
Earlier Thursday, Vick's Virginia-based attorney Lawrence Woodward denied reports that Vick spent his first night of freedom at a Virginia Beach strip club.
"It is absolutely, categorically false," Woodward told the AP.
An Internet blogger reported Vick was seen at the strip club Atlantis on Monday night, hours after the electronic monitoring device he wore for two months under home confinement was removed. Woodward said Vick was not in Virginia Beach that night and was not at any strip club.
"He has been spending time with his family and friends and working with his advisers on legal matters and trying to get back to playing football," Woodward said.
Vick also denied the reports in an interview with the Daily Press of Newport News.
"That's crazy," he told his hometown newspaper. "That is the last place on my mind. I was out of town. I guess it's just someone trying to be hurtful."
Two dancers arriving at the club Thursday, who identified themselves as Tropical and Tara, said they did see Vick and NBA free agent Allen Iverson there Monday night.
Leon Rose, Iverson's agent, said the basketball star hasn't seen Vick since his release from prison.