Fassel Says He’d Take Vick, But Would Vick Be Interested?

Though quarterback Mike Vick’s return to the NFL remains up in the air, at least one UFL head coach is more than interested in giving him a shot. Former Giants coach Jim Fassel, who’ll be coaching the Las Vegas franchise, says he’d give Vick an opportunity to play. “I would, simply because people make mistakes,” Fassel told Boomer Esiason for his weekly MSG show. “I mean, the mistake he made was horrific and everyone was taken aback by it obviously, but once he pays his debt to society, he has jail time and he’s lost everything. “Everybody gets a chance to re-prove themselves. If he will make that commitment he deserves another chance. I believe that wholeheartedly. This league may be very good for him. Maybe he just needs to go to a league and just start playing rather than joining a team and be a back-up and not play and develop. We’ll see. I don’t know. No decisions have been made by our league or the NFL. No decisions have been made as to where he’s going to be. I think, personally, he deserves another chance.” Of course, the other three UFL head coaches likely feel the same way. (And this raises a key question of whether the four UFL franchises will secure “dibs” on certain players, or whether it will be a free-for-all approach.) The bigger question is whether Vick would be interested in playing for the UFL. If he doesn’t get reinstated this year to the NFL, it might be Vick’s only option. Even then, however, it’s our understanding that Vick’s handlers would steer him away from the upstart league. Really, what would Vick have to gain? If he plays well, critics will say that he dominated a bunch of slapdicks. If he struggles, it might scare away some NFL teams.