As we covered extensively last week as soon as information started to leak about the shooting that took place after Mike Vick’s 30th birthday party, he could be in a lot of trouble — first and foremost with the police and feds. Even if he was able to skate on that, there might be repercussions from the NFL and the Eagles.
ESPN is reporting the Eagles are already having discussions about possibly releasing Vick. Here are the details:
A person familiar with the team’s thinking says the Philadelphia Eagles are strongly considering releasing Michael Vick.
The person says the team might cut Vick no matter what police conclude during their investigation of a shooting that followed the quarterback’s birthday celebration in Virginia Beach last week. The person spoke to The Associated Press early Saturday on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
A high-ranking source with the Eagles told ESPN that the Associated Press report was not true, and that the team is not considering releasing Vick at this time. The source also said the team will not take any action until Virginia Beach police and the NFL conclude their investigations.
While I have been critical of Vick’s decision making, I do not agree with the notion that he should be punished without any factual evidence that he had anything to do with the shooting.
Hypothetically speaking, let’s say that Vick was just enjoying his birthday party when Quanis Phillips showed up uninvited, looking to cause trouble.
Vick leaves the scene and has no knowledge that someone has decided to handle things by shooting Phillips in the parking lot.
Should Vick be punished for that?
He would be punished not for anything criminal, but because he didn’t take the proper precautions when hosting his party.
While I strongly disagree with some of the decisions Vick has made and his inability to seem to control the people and situations around him, I can’t condone releasing or suspending someone just because a “moist dude” was trying to cause a problem and someone else – without Vick’s knowledge – decided to handle it.
If more evidence comes out showing Vick was an instigator or that he did have some knowledge of what was going on with the shooting, then I would have no problem with him being banned from the NFL.
Until then I think the prudent thing would be to wait until all the facts come out.