Michael Vick Back in NFL, But Future is Uncertain

Michael Vick, who is back home after serving an 18-month prison sentence for running a dogfighting ring, was allowed back in the NFL now that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reinstated him on July 27, reports ESPN.

He could play in the regular-season as soon as October.

Vick, 29, is currently allowed to participate in "preseason practices, workouts and meetings and can play in the final two preseason games." But as of now he is unsigned.

When football seasons starts, he could engage with a team but cannot play in games. Vick could be fully reinstated by a deadline of the sixth week of the season in mid-October.

Goodell suspended Vick "indefinitely" in August 2007 when news surfaced that the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback funded a dogfighting operation on his Virginia estate. Goodell then said Vick would only be reinstated if he displayed remorse for his actions.

"I accept that you are sincere when you say that you want to, and will, turn your life around, and that you intend to be a positive role model for others," Goodell wrote in his letter to Vick. "I am prepared to offer you that opportunity. Whether you succeed is entirely in your hands."

Goodell said that he received highly mixed responses from past and current players and coaches when he spread word of his decision.

Nonetheless, Vick accepted Goodell's offer.

"I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to commissioner Goodell for allowing me to be readmitted to the National Football League," Vick said in a statement made by his agent, Joel Segal. "I fully understand that playing football in the NFL is a privilege, not a right, and I am truly thankful for the opportunity I have been given."

Vick fully served his 23-month federal sentence when he was freed from his electric ankle monitor on July 20 at his Hampton, Va., residence.

Goodell said Vick consented to receive "psychiatric testing," which ruled that he is mentally fit to play in the NFL but must undergo continuing counseling.

He said that Vick's bar from the beginning of the season is not a consequence of the crime he committed, but rather a chance to smoothly return to the NFL.

But many prominent NFL teams have already declared they would not sign him. The New York Giants, New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys have said they would not offer him a contract. The Atlanta Falcons, who officially released Vick in June, said they would not allow him back.

Vick filed for bankruptcy protection last July, with assets of roughly $16 million and debts of over $20 million. He most likely would not get another offer comparable to the 10-year, $130 million contract he had with the Falcons, and would probably not receive any endorsement offers due to the gruesome details of how he treated his dogs.

The other three co-defendants, after pleading guilty, confessed of how Vick helped kill dogs unfit to fight via gunshot, hanging, drowning and brutal beatings. Vick then pleaded guilty himself.

In an effort to repair his image, he plans to work with the Humane Society of the United States to discourage inner city teens from dogfighting.

Ed Sayres, president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the organization hopes Vick "rises to the occasion and proves worthy of the rare second chance Commissioner Goodell has granted him," according to ESPN.