Falcons not finished with Vick
 

Falcons not finished with Vick

Team likely to try to recover $22 million signing bonus

Posted: Saturday August 25, 2007 10:55PM;
Updated: Saturday August 25, 2007 10:55PM

NFL Team Page

ATLANTA (AP) -- The Atlanta Falcons apparently are not through with Michael Vick yet -- not when the team still hopes to recover millions of dollars it already paid the quarterback.

Vick was suspended indefinitely without pay by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday, only hours after Vick acknowledged his guilt to some dogfighting charges. In announcing the suspension, Goodell also opened the way for the Falcons to attempt to recover $22 million of Vick's signing bonus from the 10-year, $130 million contract he signed in 2004.

"I have advised the Falcons that, with my decision today, they are no longer prohibited from acting and are now free to assert any claims or remedies available to them under the Collective Bargaining Agreement or your NFL Player Contract," Goodell said Friday.

Though Falcons officials wouldn't discuss their plans Saturday, the team is expected to follow Goodell's suggestion and attempt to recoup the money from Vick. The process will remain private.

"We're not going to talk at all in any detail about any of that," Falcons spokesman Reggie Roberts said Saturday night.

The fact Vick remains on the team's roster may be the best indication of the plans. For the team to make a legal claim to recovering money under the CBA, Vick must remain on the roster, even though he is suspended.

The Falcons already have some financial relief. The team will not have to pay Vick's $6 million base salary this season, and it can add a player to replace Vick, since he is on the suspended list.

The bad news for the team: Vick still counts about $8.5 million against the team's salary cap for this season.

The loss of Vick may hurt the team in other ways. Monday night's preseason opener against Cincinnati will be the first chance for the team to learn if Vick's departure hurts attendance at the Georgia Dome.

Vick wears the biggest-selling jersey in team history and is given much credit for the team's 51 consecutive sellouts.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

cherry on top

I'm certainly no Falcons fan, but in light of everything that's happened it doesn't seem right that Ick would count against their current cap. :shake:

I was thinking the same thing. Old conVICK really put the screws to them.

The Falcons will be suffering from the Vick situation for years in terms of cap implications, QB development, competitiveness, and fan support. He will probably end up costing them hundreds of millions of dollars before they recover. I expect NFL teams will start investigating their potential franchise players a lot more carefully in the future.

Black Atlanta loves the Falcons!

I was wondering if he's going to have the coin to come up with the money that the team's going to ask him to return. Is he going to go from rich to broke in short order?

I was thinking that as well. A lot of homes that he bought for his family and posse are probably going up for sale tomorrow. And on a depressed market to boot. Pennies on the dollar. :)

Dont forget he made alot of money in endorsements as well.

The Irs.....poor Mike
The state...bad karma

Wait till he has to deal with death threats and all that from the pitbull people he turns on to get a better deal.

That's what I was thinking. If you're dumb enough to fight dogs, you're probably not smart enough to manage you're money. Deberg rightfully points out his other sources of income, which I had kinda forgotten about, so this should make for an interesting outcome. How much money can a dumbass piss away?

all of it?

would you watch another "The Longest Yard" movie if Vick starred in it?

I'm betting all of those deals are dead. Nike completely dropped him.

If he played the role Chris Rock did.