FOXBOROUGH -- Despite wild speculation Friday, the only backup quarterback on the New England roster who wore No. 7 all day was Matt Gutierrez.
Rumors -- fueled in part by a series of vague answers from coach Bill Belichick on the topic -- swirled around Gillette Stadium all day Friday that Michael Vick was not only in New England, but working out with the Patriots in what was surely just a prelude to his signing a deal.
Team spokesman Stacey James put the talk to bed Friday afternoon when he told reporters that Vick had not been in town to work out for the team. But that came at the end of a wild day that included doctored pictures of Vick allegedly in Foxborough, a slew of unconfirmed Vick sightings at Logan and a former Patriots’ captain saying Vick would be a “good fit” in New England.
The hubbub started on Monday when, after serving 23 months in a federal prison for his part in a dogfighting ring, Vick was conditionally reinstated by commissioner Roger Goodell. He then told reporters on Thursday he was “getting close” to signing with a team. But when multiple reports surfaced Thursday night and Friday morning saying Vick was sighted at Logan Airport, things started to get crazy.
The first real inclination it wasn't going to be your ordinary day at training camp started in a post-practice press conference with Belichick. Many other teams have issued definitive statements on whether or not they would sign Vick, but for the second day in a row, Belichick refused to follow suit and offer a yes-or-no answer on the topic of Vick possibly joining the Patriots.
Roughly two-thirds of the way through the Friday afternoon press conference, Belichick was asked, “Have you and the organization ruled out signing Michael Vick?” He replied: “Have we ruled it out? Um, I don’t know that it’s ruled in or ruled out. ... Well, I’m just answering your question. I’m saying I don’t think it’s ever been put that way, so I couldn’t really answer that.”
Two questions later, he was asked: “Are you interested in signing Michael Vick?”
“You know I think we would consider...” said Belichick. “We’re coaching the players that we have on the field right now, so that’s who is here. So, anybody who isn’t here is there potential that they could be here? Yeah, there probably is. But right now they’re not.
“We’re coaching the 80 players that are here, so until we get somebody else we’re coaching them. When we get somebody else in here, which I’m sure at some point we will, then we’ll coach them and the players that are here. Who that’s going to be? Right now, it’s the 80 players who are here. That’s all I can tell you.”
Finally, he was asked, “It sounds like you’re not ruling that out?”
“I am coaching the players that are here, that are on this team,” he replied. “I am not coaching anybody else. I’m sure at some point somebody else will be here, I don’t know who that’s going to be. If I knew they would already be here.”
A report from The Associated Press hit the wires mid-afternoon that actually gave a concrete location for Vick -- he was in Newport News, Va. Friday morning, and had declined to answer reporters’ questions before and after a hearing on his Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. Shortly after that, former Patriot Rodney Harrison went on the “Dan Patrick Show” and said New England would be a “good fit” for Vick.
“That would be an ideal place for Michael Vick to go,” Harrison said, “because it’s such a family environment.”
Harrison, who retired this past spring to become an analyst for NBC Sports, added that working with Tom Brady would be great for Vick.
“Brady would be great for him,” Harrison said. “Brady would teach him how to be a pro.”
Things ratcheted up another notch when the Miami Herald published a report later that afternoon that read: “Vick is currently working out for the Patriots staff at Gillette Stadium, a very reliable NFL source just told me. The source said, as of 3:30 p.m., Vick was on the field attempting to display that he remains one of the most athletic players the NFL had seen prior to his arrest.”
Regardless of the report, there was no Vick in sight throughout the afternoon practice session at Gillette, one that was cut short by rain for the second time in two days. The Herald later retracted the story, leaving Gutierrez -- as he was at the start of the day -- the only quarterback on the roster wearing No. 7.
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