The Atlanta Falcons have settled a multimillion dollar claim with former QB Michael Vick for the "reduced" sum of $6.5 million.
The settlement was reached ahead of Vick's bankruptcy hearing in Virginia on Thursday. The suspended quarterback arrived in his home state Monday afternoon and was being held at Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk, Va.
The Falcons are trying to trade Vick, who is still barred from the NFL as he serves out a nearly two-year sentence for operating a gruesome dogfighting ring. If no deal is reached, Atlanta will likely cut its former star before the start of training camp.
"We were able to resolve our claim in a way that was acceptable to Michael and acceptable to us," team president Rich McKay said. "It was just a good, old-fashioned negotiation."
The Falcons originally claimed that Vick owed them $21.2 million in bonuses that should have been paid back when he pled guilty to dog fighting charges.
Clearly, the Falcons aren't interested in dragging this out. They'll take their $6.5 million and wash their hands of Vick. Vick is scheduled to be released from federal custody in July.
I might be out on a limb here, but I think Michael Vick will play in the NFL again. Maybe not this year and maybe not as a quarterback, but I expect that he'll break camp in 2010 with an NFL team. If you're in a league with a "practice squad" or some sort of arrangement where you can stash keepers for several years, you might want to consider grabbing Vick this season.