GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers aren’t ruling out Michael Vick.
Asked whether Green Bay might be interested in the scandal-tainted quarterback, general manager Ted Thompson didn’t rule it out Tuesday.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean the Packers are in hot pursuit of Vick. Thompson is notoriously coy about the team’s plans, so it wasn’t immediately clear whether his comments indicated a sincere and significant level of interest.
“What is the answer that we give to questions like this? We’re always looking to improve our team,” Thompson said. “We look at all options at all times. I wouldn’t care to speculate in terms of the odds or the percentages (of signing Vick) or anything like that.”
But they’ve at least discussed Vick internally?
“We look at everything,” Thompson said.
Thompson acknowledged that the Vick situation was unique, but said that didn’t change the process the team uses to evaluate players.
“The routine that we go through is the same,” Thompson said. “It doesn’t mean any more that we are likely to do it or less likely. It’s a routine that we go through. It’s automatic.”
Vick has been conditionally reinstated in the NFL after completing a 23-month federal sentence for running a dogfighting ring. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has said Vick can sign with a team and begin playing by week six of the NFL season.
More than two dozen NFL teams have said they’re not interested in signing the 29-year-old Vick. The others have declined comment or taken a stance like that of the Packers.