NFL

Eagles Owner Holds Nose, Swallows Hard, Signs Michael Vick

Posted Aug 14, 2009 1:25PM By Dan Graziano (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Eagles, NFL Police Blotter, NFL Quarterbacks

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Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie clearly had a hard time approving the Michael Vick signing.PHILADELPHIA -- Jeffrey Lurie made it clear very early in his press conference that he didn't want to sign Michael Vick. The Eagles' owner was emotional as he addressed the media at the team's training complex here, and explained how hard it had been to make the ultimate decision to bring in the troubled quarterback, who will suit up and practice with the Eagles on Saturday.

Lurie described himself as an "extreme dog-lover" who has rescued dogs from abuse, and described the actions for which Vick just served two years in prison as having a "complete disregard for any definition of common decency." But in the end, Lurie did approve the signing of Vick, as personally difficult as it may have been for him to do so. And his words and his demeanor here today left everyone in attendance to wonder if this was really, in the end, all about a desire to win football games.

"When you're asked to approve something that you find absolutely despicable and anathema, it takes a lot of soul-searching," Lurie said. "I wanted to know why Michael Vick was being reinstated into the National Football League -- a league that he had disgraced."

But Lurie said conversations with Eagles coach Andy Reid, former Colts coach (and current Vick mentor) Tony Dungy and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell convinced him to change his mind.

"After those conversations, I was more open to giving a human being a second chance who possibly could become a socially active NFL player who could do great things off the field. Could this man, Michael Vick, who I don't know, become an agent for change?"

Once his mind began to open to the possibility, Lurie said, he wanted to meet with Vick.

"I wanted to see a lot of self-hatred in order to approve this," Lurie said.

And apparently he did, because there he sat, with about 20 animal rights protesters outside Philadelphia's complex, and the front office fielding calls from angry season-ticket holders and curious corporate sponsors looking for reasons the Eagles would make such a signing, explaining it as best he could.

"People are going to be skeptical," Lurie said. "You're innately skeptical of someone who's capable of doing horrendous things as to whether they're capable of remorse. He's going to have to prove to Philadelphia, to us, to the NFL, to human beings and to animals everywhere that he's committed to saving more animals than he's responsible for eliminating."

Lurie talked a lot about that -- said he wanted to see Vick be "proactive" on animal rights. The fact that Vick has had meetings this week in Chicago and Atlanta with the Humane Society surely has made an impression on the Eagles' owner, and it's the kind of thing of which he claims he needs to see more in order to keep Vick on his team.

"If he is not proactive, he won't be on the team," Lurie said. "That's part of the agreement. There's no room for error on Michael's part. There are no third chances. If it becomes at all apparent that we're wrong, it won't take very long to make that change."

Left unsaid, though, is that if they're right, they've made a major and thrilling upgrade to their offense in their attempt to win the NFC East this year. In the end, those of us who are skeptical are left to wonder if that's the reason Lurie finally swallowed hard and signed off on this deal.

Tags: andy+reid, AndyReid, jeffrey+lurie, JeffreyLurie, michael+vick, MichaelVick, philadelphia+eagles, PhiladelphiaEagles, tony+dungy, TonyDungy

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