Eagles Ex Michael Vick Reflects on Prison Time, Reveals ‘My Wish!'

"That was wishful thinking," said former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, who recently reflected on his regrets regarding prison and dogfighting.
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Former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick is largely remembered as one of most gifted offensive weapons in NFL history. But the legendary talent does not run away from the fact that his MVP-level football career was sidetracked by his late-2000’s dog-fighting scandal that occurred during his time with the Atlanta Falcons.

And now, he's opening up to reveal a part of his background that he finds the most regretful.

“I wish I had a father figure or somebody in my life (to day), ‘Yo, man, you can really screw all this up,’” Vick said. “Ain’t nobody came and said, ‘Bro, you can screw all this up.”’

Vick, 43, is considered by many a mentor to today’s generation of quarterbacks, did say in his podcast talk with Tyreek Hill that he was offered some guidance.

But obviously not enough to guide him away from his six years of supervision of a secret dog-fighting ring, which led to his eventual arrest in 2007. After playing with the Falcons from 2001-06 before his conviction, he spent 21 months in a federal prison and was indefinitely suspended by the league.

Later, he did return to the NFL in 2009 as a member of the Eagles. Philly took a chance on him with a two-year, $6.8 million deal in August 2009.

Regardless of this newfound opportunity, his actions cost him millions of dollars and a great deal of national respect. It did, however, also end up teaching him humility.

“The whole time like I was gone I thought they was gonna wait on me,” Vick said of the Falcons. “But that was wishful thinking … I really thought … I step back in, be the starter, and we just move on like nothing ever happened. But that’s not reality. And I was hoping for something that just couldn’t happen.”

Vick turned his career around with the Eagles. During his second season with the team in 2010, he won Comeback Player of the Year and was named to the Pro Bowl while throwing a single-season career-high 21 touchdowns.


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Mike Fisher
MIKE FISHER

Mike Fisher - as a newspaper beat writer and columnist and on radio and TV, where he is an Emmy winner - has covered the NFL since 1983. He is the author of two best-selling books on the NFL.