Commissioner Roger Goodell held his annual Super Bowl week press conference on Friday and while a vast majority of the questions were related to the labor negotiations with the NFL Players Association, he fielded a question regarding the development of quarterback Michael Vick as a person in the two years since he returned to the NFL.
Goodell said that he's "extremely proud" of the changes that Vick has made in his life.
"He's taken his responsibilities serious. He's made a commitment to himself to make better decisions. He is committed to doing the right thing going forward. I think that's a great thing," Goodell said. "We're looking for success stories. We're not looking for players to fail. This is a young man who made horrific mistakes. He dealt with them. He paid a very significant price and now he's doing the right thing. I support him on that and I want to make sure he doesn't put himself in a position where he's going to make bad decisions and things can happen around him and he takes that serious also and I am frequently in contact with Michael. I want to see him continue to have success off the field as much as on the field."
Earlier this week, it was reported that Vick was involved with a Super Bowl party that used his name for promotional purposes. To ensure security, there are reportedly going to be a number of extreme security measures taken that included the hiring of off-duty members of a local SWAT team. Goodell said that he spoke to Vick three times in the last two weeks and Vick let Goodell know that he was not going to have any involvement in that or any party.
"He has said on numerous occasions people have been using his name about being involved in with some type of party and he had no intention of participating in that," Goodell said.
In this week's Sports Illustrated, Goodell told Peter King that following the Eagles' loss to the Packers in the wild card round he sent a text message to Vick explaining how proud he was of him. Vick responded, "I will continue to make you and my family proud!"
-- Posted by Chris McPherson, 2:10 p.m., February 4
