Michael Vick officially announces retirement from the NFL

The Atlanta Falcons are around 48 hours from playing in Super LI, but a retirement announcement for former quarterback Michael Vick is now news.

The Atlanta Falcons will play in the second Super Bowl in franchise history on Sunday, with 2008 third overall pick Matt Ryan under center. Ryan’s arrival brought quick stability under center back to the Falcons, after Michael Vick’s off field issue derailed their 2007 season and set the franchise back.

Vick did not play this entire season, and earlier this week he openly conceded that his playing days are over. A retirement announcement of some sort seemed sure to come soon, but Vick got ahead of the curve on Friday afternoon.

Vick was a bit ahead of his time as an athletic quarterback that could throw, with 6,109 career rushing yards and 36 touchdowns on the ground.

But when news of a dog-fighting operation he was running surfaced in 2007, he wound up in federal prison for two years in the midst of what would have been his prime as a football player. The Falcons were left to regroup, after giving Vick a big contract in December of 2004, with some egg on their face in the short-term.

Vick’s second act as an NFL quarterback is surely overlooked, as he started 42 games over five seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles (2009-2013) and earned a Pro Bowl selection after the 2010 season. He then served as a backup (six total starts) for the New York Jets (2014) and Pittsburgh Steelers (2015), in what would be his final two NFL seasons.

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Vick was essentially a running back in a quarterback’s body during his prime with the Falcons, with many highlight-reel plays on his resume. But that resume is not a Hall of Fame resume, before we get too far ahead of ourselves.