Vick: Goodell Helped Convince Me To Sign With Eagles

Good article. And I'm sure Bills and Bengals fans are thrilled.

Michael Vick GQ September 2011 Interview: Profiles: GQ (http://m.gq.com/sports/profiles/201109/michael-vick-gq-september-2011-interview?currentPage=all)

Goodell is sure to catch a lot of flak on this, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Philly was a much better situation for him than Buffalo or Cincy... for many reasons.

Yeah Cincy was the wrong place for him in almost every conceivable way, Buffalo is to small a town and not enough talent around him. Philly was the right choice for him.

I have a major problem with the commissioner of the league, or by extension the NFL league office, influencing or steering any player to take a particular course of action, especially a decision on where to play.

Where's the free market? You either reinstate Vick fully, allowing him to make his own decision like any other free agent, or you don't. I'd cry major foul if I were the Bills or the Bengals.

This is a friable offense. An bias commissioner is a worthless commissioner.

Yeah. It seems very curious. I mean did Goodell say you should go to Philly. Or did he say something like, don't fixate on starting right away. Think about the organization as a whole. Look for stability.

Yeah. It seems very curious. I mean did Goodell say you should go to Philly. Or did he say something like, don't fixate on starting right away. Think about the organization as a whole. Look for stability.

Something tells me it was probably more along those lines.

I've got a problem with any form of it though, even if it was as innocent as giving an opinion. The NFL had a vested interest in making sure Vick didn't get himself into trouble again, so while that is all well-intentioned, they're still pushing an agenda. Goodell and the NFL don't want the brand sullied by a relapse by the felon. Vick surrounded by McNabb, Andy Reid, and lower expectations initially surely reduces the chances of Vick making a bad choice, especially when considering the peers Vick would have had in Cincy, they were practically 50% felons at that point.

I'm sure Goodell had good intentions, but it just smells bad. Let Dungy be the one to advise him, you as the NFL commissioner need be completely impartial when it comes to player acquisition matters.

Let Dungy be the one to advise him, you as the NFL commissioner need be completely impartial when it comes to player acquisition matters.

Good point, even if he worked through an intermediary it would have been better to have some separation.

On the surface, it looks like Roger Goodell was/is meddling and perhaps overstepped his authority here. But let's be honest for a second, this wasn't Joe Blow quarterback that was released from prison and wanted to come back to play football. Had this story not taken on national and international importance, maybe Goodell steps back a little and allow things to run it's course. This story was dominating headlines for sometime. Wherever Michael Vick landed it would have come back to Roger Goodell's judgement or lack thereof. Tony Dungy would have suffered no repercussions if Vick went rogue again. So either way, Goodell and Vick were partners in his ultimate decision.

Roger Goodell is running a multi-billion dollar global enterprise, not your local Walmart. He is very much involved with not just the business side of the NFL, but also responsible for fashioning the image and making the product more accessible to consumers around the world as well as local communities. And players and what uniforms they put on are a big part of that. I'm sure he weighed all of this during his meetings with Vick.

I don't know if Michael Vick is the face of the NFL, but it's hard to argue that he's not in the top two or three right now. And if Philly goes to the Super Bowl, Goodell will get a lot of credit for helping Vick make a stunning comeback.