The former coach did not identify any of the interested teams but indicated he believed Vick could be signed within a week or so. Dungy said “something may happen here pretty shortly.”
Dungy said he wasn’t sure if Vick, who is set to be interviewed on “60 Minutes” this Sunday, is in football-playing shape. But a person familiar with the situation said Monday he’d been told Vick is in very good physical condition after training recently with speed coach Tom Shaw.
Vick’s representatives have said little publicly about their deliberations with teams, and agent Joel Segal was not available to comment Monday. But even before Dungy’s comments, some within the league had suspected Vick would end up back on an NFL roster at some point in the not-too-distant future.
“There’s usually a market for good football players,” New York Giants General Manager Jerry Reese said late last week at his team’s training camp in Albany, N.Y. “That’s really not for me to say. [But] he’s a good football player, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up with a team before the season’s out.”
Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said at his club’s camp in Bethlehem, Pa., last week that “with every player, there’s risk” and he was waiting to see what happens when the Vick situation “plays itself out.”
The upstart United Football League, which begins play this fall, has been mentioned as a possible fallback. But people close to Vick have said he is focused on a return to the NFL.
Any NFL team that contemplates signing Vick will have to consider the possible public relations ramifications, people within the league have said, and then will have to discuss how he would fit into that club’s quarterback hierarchy and offensive system. Even the football-related considerations are a bit tricky, with the regular season only a month away.
“I really think the timing of it really has a lot to do with it,” Giants center Shaun O’Hara said late last week. “If this decision had been made in the spring and a team had a chance to bring him in and spend time with him and have him learn the offense, I think that maybe would be a different situation. Right now, everybody is trying to focus who they can have on the roster now, and then they’re going to be trimming rosters, not trying to add players.”
Some executives within the league continue to wonder if Vick could end up with the New England Patriots or Pittsburgh Steelers. Both are stable organizations with established quarterbacks who presumably wouldn’t feel threatened by Vick’s presence.
Patriots Coach Bill Belichick at one point declined during a news conference to rule out signing Vick. But Patriots owner Robert Kraft said during a subsequent radio interview he doubted the club would make any move that would result in quarterback Tom Brady being out of the lineup for even a single play.
Green Bay Packers General Manager Ted Thompson said during a recent news conference that his club considers all options. There were reports the Packers were giving serious consideration to signing Vick and had sent a member of the front office to meet with him, but team president Mark Murphy has said he doesn’t envision the move being made.
Carolina Panthers Coach John Fox has declined to rule out signing Vick but also indicated he thinks his team is set at quarterback.
The Washington Redskins, Miami Dolphins, St. Louis Rams and the Bills are among the teams that indicated they had no interest in signing Vick.

Will he deliver? Put it this way: I don’t think Mr. Blank, Rich McKay and TD would have put that money on the table for him if they didn’t think he would live up to it. So I think he will.

By the way, I do not appreciate the idiotic, false, derogatory cheap shots at Matt Ryan and the Falcons posted by the misguided Vick supporters (apologists). Their man is gone from this team and won’t be back. The AJC should start deleting their comments as irrelevant and offensive.