Michael Vick Released From Prison

Michael Vick took his first steps toward trying to regain some semblance of his former life this morning as he left a federal prison in Kansas. Even though there were throngs of media and photographers waiting for Vick, he managed to elude them and left the prison grounds in a vehicle escorted by security guards and members of his legal team. His fiance was also on hand to accompany him home. Vick will be traveling by car to his 5-bedroom home in Hampton, Virginia and, once there, he will be under a monitored home detention.

Vick will be allowed to leave his home to work at a $10-an-hour construction job and for other pre-approved reasons that are known to the corrections officers monitoring his detention. At the end of his home detention period, Vick will be on probation for three years.

There is already much speculation about whether it will be possible for Vick to return to the NFL. The fact is that he is going to return to the NFL as a player for some team. The question is whether he will ever be a contributing member of an NFL team. Several teams will likely show immediate interest, including San Francisco, Jacksonville and St. Louis. But with the emergence of the NFL's latest gimmick offense - the wildcat - Vick's value may be too high for teams to pass on him.

At this point, every team in the NFL that employs a variation of the wildcat would benefit from Vick being on their roster. Even a Vick of diminished ability would be hard to defend in a well-run wildcat offense. We'll find out soon enough, but here's betting that Vick is on an NFL roster when the season kicks off.