U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson this morning sentenced former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick to 23 months in prison and three years' probation for his role in a dogfighting operation. That puts him out of commission, football-wise, until late 2009, meaning the earliest he could return to the NFL would be the 2010 season. And that's not even taking into account any suspension by the league, which could keep him off the field for even longer, or any additional jail time resulting from Virginia's case against Vick, scheduled for early next year.
Even if NFL commissioner Roger Goodell were to be lenient with Vick's suspension, it's way too early to tell whether any NFL team would take him. On the one hand, good NFL quarterbacks don't grow on trees, and Vick's presence on your roster could be a huge PR and box office bonanza.
On the other hand, by 2010, the NFL stands to benefit from a promising crop of college recruits. This weekend's Heisman Trophy winner, Florida Gators sophomore quarterback Tim Tebow, will be eligible for the NFL draft by then. And Vick will have spent three years out of the game.
Other options for Vick include the Arena Football League, the Canadian Football League and two upstarts (assuming they're still around in 2010): the college-centric All American Football League and the United Football League.
The Sunday Paper, however, humbly suggests another option, as found in our feature "This Week in the Future" in the current (Dec. 9) issue: a new league composed entirely of former professional football players who are also ex-cons, or at least have been drummed out of the pro ranks for bad behavior. At the rate things are going, by 2010 there ought to be enough to field at least eight 50-man teams. Just a thought.
Meanwhile, what do you think? Has justice been served?