And he really needs the work. Vick isn’t used to poverty of the sort he’s spent himself into. In one of his bankruptcy hearings, he asked the judge to declare the first $750,000 of his annual income protected from creditors. That’s how much he feels he needs just to keep his belly full and a roof over his family’s head. The judge told him to go back and come up with another plan, preferably one that’s more realistic.

And the reality for him is that he’s eligible for a minimum salary just short of $750,000, which is NFL scale for a player of his experience. Any team that decides to hire him should make that his base pay. If he wants to earn more, he’ll have to do it through incentives.

Pay him for games played, yards, touchdowns, showing up for meetings, public appearances — whatever the team can think of. Give him an option for a second year at a better base, but still with the big money coming from incentives.

Slideshow   10 to watch Gregg Rosenthal highlights the NFL games he can't wait to see in the 2009 season. more photos

Don’t sign him unless he agrees to play wherever the coach feels he can do the most good. If that’s returning kicks on special teams and being a third-down back, so be it. If he wants back in, he should give up any fantasies about calling his own shots.

If he can contribute, the home fans will conveniently forget why he was in prison. If he contributes in a huge way, they won’t even remember that he ever was in prison. And if he can’t, nobody will care.

But first Goodell has to reinstate him. The commissioner will probably do that after making Vick grovel and do public penance. And there’s no real reason to keep him out this year. The commissioner understands that talent has a short shelf life. Force Vick to sit another year, and it may really be over for him.

So figure on Vick being cleared sometime in mid-summer, just in time for training camp. That’s when the circus will begin.

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