Everyone knows about Michael Vick’s legendary speed he embarrassed defenses with on the field. But most haven’t noticed that his post-playing career is moving with the same type of quickness.
After finishing his playing career in 2015 with the Steelers, the 4x Pro Bowler was at the same crossroads faced by all professional athletes when their playing days conclude.
What’s next?
Coaching wasn’t of interest, so he turned from that path.
That’s when memories of his childhood resurfaced and the words of his mother came roaring back.
“When you’re done playing professional sports, you’re going to be a commentator. You’re going to be a broadcaster.”
As a young boy, Vick had the broadcasting bug. He would watch games and then go into the bathroom and practice broadcasting the game in the mirror.
It’s the same practice employed by many other highly successful broadcasters, like his FOX Sports colleague, Curt Menefee.
It’s ironic as so many young, Black, aspiring quarterbacks imitate Vick’s moves on the field with the hopes of being like no. 7.
Meanwhile, a young Michael Vick has emulated broadcast veterans like Menefee and Gus Johnson, men who wield microphones instead of a football.
Yet it wasn’t a move he anticipated making.
From the Gridiron to the Studio
Vick’s transition from the gridiron to the studio was by no means seamless. I could tell he faced frustration by his animated reaction when I asked him about moving into the field.
Fortunately, another former NFL star turned on-air media personality helped to open the door for Vick.
“It wasn’t until Cris Carter got an opportunity to work with ‘First Things First’ and he asked me if I wanted to join the show, you know, part-time,” Vick told me during our interview.
From there, Vick met individuals like FOX Sports SVP of Talent Relations, Aimee Leone, who helped mentor and guide him through the early stages of broadcast television. They were invaluable resources, providing him with exposure through FOX NFL programming.
Yet sports stardom doesn’t automatically equate to being one on television.
“It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be,” Vick confessed to me.
“For one, it’s live television, so the margin for error is very slim. I came in striving for perfection and not knowing how to present myself on camera, speak to an audience and get comfortable being in front of the camera.”
That pressure made the transition even more challenging. Not wanting to make a mistake became an additional burden for a man used to running right by them.
But Michael Vick the athlete wasn’t going to let Michael Vick the broadcaster fail.
“In the beginning, it [the pressure] held me back,” said Vick. “It wasn’t until I started getting advice from certain people within FOX and taking voice projection classes and doing all those things that I started to develop.”
The latter is what most people don’t understand.
Broadcasting is a craft. It’s an art that must be practiced over and over again. Yes, it requires talent, but that talent must constantly hone their skills for once the camera is on, you must be ready.
For an athlete, practice, the weight room, film sessions, drilling when no one is around and taking extra reps is what prepares them for the actual game.
For a broadcaster, watching tape, practicing the craft, researching the material, listening to producers, practicing in the mirror and taking voice projection classes is what prepares them for when the studio lights up.
Most surprising is the fact that Vick took voice projection classes. One would think that an NFL quarterback would be able to project his voice. Who couldn’t hear Peyton Manning’s “Omaha”, Aaron Rodgers’ “Green 18” or Patrick Mahomes’ “White 80”?
But Vick said that his linemen used to yell at him to speak up because they couldn’t hear his calls and cadence.
Turns out, his voice’s low volume was due to an accident he suffered as a child when a flag he was running with went down his throat and damaged his voice.
Vick credited his growth to FOX Sports executives, colleagues like Colin Cowherd and Charissa Thompson, and people like Jackson St. head coach, Deion Sanders.
“Deion told me to show emotion and smile,” said Vick.
Vick eventually conceded that he would never be perfect. Instead, he watched how others performed and moved in the same fashion.
And that’s why he’s been a mainstay on FOX NFL Kickoff every Sunday at 11am EST during the season.
The Evolution of the Black Quarterback
Vick’s post-NFL career extends beyond broadcasting. Perhaps the most impactful project he’s working on is a project about himself.
Not a documentary on his life, for that was done previously.
No, this is a project that examines the essence of who he is and what he has always been.
A Black quarterback.
Vick is the most culturally influential quarterback in the history of the sport.
What he did for the position is why I pursued him for two years to feature him in my series “College Football Narratives”, which showcased the stories of the greatest Black quarterbacks in college football history. Vick’s place in the pantheon of college football quarterbacks is secure, cemented by performances such as his torching of Florida State in the 2000 Sugar Bowl. Although the Hokies lost the game, Vick won the hearts of college football fans with his performance. It was also one of the many reasons why Atlanta drafted him with the first overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft.
That made him the first Black quarterback in NFL history to be selected with the first overall pick.
Now he and his wife, Kijafa, want to bring the stories of the men who came before and after him to life in a documentary about the Black quarterback.
“You’re the first person that’s hearing this,” Vick told me. “My wife came up with this idea maybe two years ago.”
The idea was to capture the generational evolution of the Black quarterback, from Eldridge Dickey and Doug Williams to Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson.
“People always come up to me and say ‘You changed the game. You revolutionized the position,” said Vick. “I say ‘I appreciate it, but it really wasn’t me.'”
To him, it started with Dickey, who Vick affectionately calls “the Michael Vick of the sixties.”
Dickey was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 1968 out of Tennessee A&I (now known as Tennessee State), becoming the first Black quarterback selected in the AFL/NFL Draft.
During his career at A&I, Dickey won two Black college titles and amassed a stat line of 6,523 yards and 67 touchdowns.
The trailblazing quarterback’s game was so divine that they nicknamed him “The Lord’s Prayer” for he always delivered for his team.
The NFL was unkind to Dickey, forcing him to play receiver in his first year. That enabled Marlin Briscoe, a quarterback turned defensive back for the Broncos, to become the first Black quarterback to start in an NFL/AFL game.
As Vick discussed the documentary and those involved, like Doug Williams, his level of excitement grew.
Williams, as everyone knows, was the first Black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl. But most don’t know that Williams is also the first Black quarterback in league history to be drafted in the first round as a quarterback and actually play the position in the NFL.
These are the stories that many ignore, don’t know or simply overlook.
But to Michael and Kijafa, as well as Michael Strahan who’s working on the project through his production company Smac-Entertainment, the cultural and historical significance of these men are too important to ignore.
“From the 60s, 70s and the 80s, I wanted to start there and work forward to Doug Williams winning the Super Bowl as a Black man,” Vick told me. “Playing quarterback as a kid and not being comfortable in my own skin. I had to fight that battle too.”
That’s a battle all Black quarterbacks have encountered and one which will be explored in the documentary that he’s pitching now and aims to complete in 2023 as a series.
Still Moving in the Pocket
Michael Vick is constantly on the move, and just like in his playing days, he refuses to remain in the pocket.
And he’s far too good to limit himself that way.
While his excitement for the Black quarterback doc is undeniable, his enthusiasm for his other business ventures and dreams is just as prevalent.
He has his V7 business, which extends into youth football camps and a rebooted global apparel and footwear business.
He also wants to work on a life story about himself and his mother, the primary driving force in his life.
“She is the one who got me to where I am,” said Vick. “Everything I did was to get my mom out of the situation we were in.”
“I think she has an amazing story that needs to be told.”
Perhaps most interesting is Vick’s dream project- a wildlife conservatory.
He told me that he’s always loved seeing animal exhibits and has always had his own ideas about different types of exhibits he would create given the opportunity.
So over the next three years, Vick is aiming to raise the millions needed to create his own sanctuary where he can showcase horses and other animals he’s always enjoyed seeing and being around.
“It’s always been a dream of mine,” gleamed Vick.
While he searches for locations, preferably in his home state of Virginia, Vick isn’t slowing down.
Although his playing days are over, Michael Vick’s on-field actions are mirrored by his career off the field as he refuses to be limited by the pocket, a system that has hampered and damaged Black quarterbacks for decades.
While Vick will soon be telling those stories in his upcoming Black quarterback documentary, his own life story and post-NFL career moves in the same manner.
And he’s still free to run whenever he chooses.
