NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP)—An agent for suspended NFL star Michael Vick told a bankruptcy court on Thursday that he hopes the ex-Atlanta Falcons quarterback could return to the league by September.

Joel Segal testified as part of a hearing to assess Vick’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy, which was designed with the goal of Vick returning to a professional football career. Vick, who left a federal prison in Kansas last week to travel to Virginia, was in court for the first time in the case.

To return to a team, Vick still must apply to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to be reinstated. He hasn’t yet done so, Segal said, and plans first to finish his 23-month sentence for bankrolling a dogfighting operation. He will return to his family and community, and when he is ready, start working with strength and quarterback coaches.

Segal said he’d try to negotiate a one- or two-year contract that includes incentives for playing time and a starting position. Segal said he hasn’t spoken to teams because Vick is still under contract with the Falcons, though the team has said he won’t play for Atlanta again.

“He’ll let me know when he’s ready for that, and when Mike’s ready, we have a plan,” Segal said.

Vick is expected to testify at the hearing, which is scheduled to last through Friday. Much of the testimony has detailed some of the ways he plans to spend his life once he is released from federal custody in July. He could be transferred to home confinement in late May.

“You will hear from Mr. Vick his future intentions, how he’s going to change the way he lives his life,” his lawyer, Michael Blumenthal, told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank J. Santoro.

One of those changes will be a construction job, Blumenthal said. Vick has lined up a 40-hour-a-week, $10-an-hour job at one of W.M. Jordan Co.’s 40 commercial construction jobs, said John Robert Lawson, whose father helped start the Newport News company.

Lawson, 57, said that he has known Vick for more than 10 years and that they have been involved in charitable work together. He said Vick’s representatives approached him when the former hometown hero was turned away by other employers.

“I believe all of us make mistakes, and once you’ve fulfilled your commitment and paid the price, you should be given a second chance,” Lawson said in a telephone interview. “He’s not a bad person. He made some bad choices.”

Once one of the NFL’s highest-paid players, Vick began to slide into financial ruin after details about the brutality of his dogfighting enterprise enraged the public. But court records show they were already in serious disarray because of lavish spending and poor investments.

Earlier this week, Vick and the Falcons agreed that he would pay back $6.5 million of his Atlanta contract, moving closer to cutting ties with a team that doesn’t want him. Vick was suspended indefinitely after his 2007 indictment, and Goodell has said he will review Vick’s status after he is released.

A committee representing most of Vick’s unsecured creditors has endorsed his Chapter 11 plan because the alternative—a Chapter 7 liquidation of his assets — would not provide them any portion of his future earnings. But some other parties, including a former agent who won a $4.6 million judgment against Vick, opposed the plan.

Associated Press Writers Dena Potter and Steve Szkotak contributed to this report.

second coming of Dan Marino?!

Vick to pay Falcons at least $6.5 million

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP)—Michael Vick has agreed to pay the Atlanta Falcons at least $6.5 million as part of his bankruptcy case, moving closer to cutting ties with a team that doesn’t want him back.

The settlement was reached ahead of Vick’s bankruptcy hearing in Virginia on Thursday. The suspended quarterback arrived in his home state Monday afternoon and was being held at Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk, Va.

The Falcons are trying to trade Vick, who is still barred from the NFL as he serves out a nearly two-year sentence for operating a gruesome dogfighting ring. If no deal is reached, Atlanta will likely cut its former star before the start of training camp.

“We were able to resolve our claim in a way that was acceptable to Michael and acceptable to us,” team president Rich McKay said. “It was just a good, old-fashioned negotiation.”

The Falcons settled their claim that Vick owed them nearly $21.2 million for bonuses he received before his guilty plea to federal dogfighting charges.

After an arbitrator sided with the team, the players union took the case to federal court. A U.S. district judge reduced the amount to $3.75 million, and the case remains on appeal.

“To resolve uncertainty over the amount of the Falcons’ claim, the parties have determined that the Falcons will receive an allowed general unsecured claim in the debtor’s bankruptcy case in the amount of $7.5 million,” said the court filing, which was entered last week. “If the district court’s ruling is ultimately affirmed on appeal, the amount of the Falcons’ claim will be reduced to $6.5 million.”

McKay said the settlement wouldn’t necessarily speed up any decision to trade or cut Vick, though the Falcons’ hierarchy—from owner Arthur Blank on down—has made it clear he will not play again for Atlanta.

Vick’s bankruptcy lawyers, Peter Ginsberg and Paul Campsen, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

The suspended NFL star was being held in a general population block at the Suffolk jail but had limited contact with other inmates, said Lt. Tanya Scott, the facility’s spokeswoman. She said one of Vick’s attorneys met with him Tuesday, but he’d had no other visitors.

A bankruptcy judge in Newport News ordered Vick to testify in person at his hearing. He was required to pay the costs of his transfer from the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., where he’s been serving a 23-month sentence for his role in the dogfighting operation.

Vick has been approved for transfer to home confinement no sooner than May 21, about two months before his scheduled release from federal custody. After that, he hopes to resume his NFL career.

It won’t be in Atlanta.

“We’ve stated our position pretty clearly on that,” McKay said.

The Falcons are Vick’s largest unsecured creditor. They would receive a prorated share of any future earnings he makes, but only after his secured creditors—such as banks and mortgage companies—are paid. Any money the team receives from Vick would be taken off their salary cap, though this is the final season they will take a significant hit, about $7 million.

“This helps to clarify what were a lot of pending legal issues,” McKay said.

Vick was once the NFL’s highest-paid player, agreeing to a $130 million, 10-year deal with the Falcons in December 2004. After he went to prison, the team filed a claim to recover bonuses he had earned from 2004 through 2007.

A court-appointed expert said the team should be repaid for roster bonuses Vick received, but U.S. District Judge David Doty ruled the team could only recover the signing bonuses, significantly reducing the amount.

The team has appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A ruling is expected in June, but it will merely set the final amount that Vick must pay the Falcons—$6.5 million or $7.5 million—while also establishing precedence for future cases.

With that issue resolved, Atlanta can move toward ridding itself of Vick. For now, the Falcons will continue to pursue trade talks, but no team has publicly expressed interest in the first NFL quarterback to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season.

Vick hopes to resume his pro football career, with a large portion of his earnings set aside to resolve his bankruptcy case. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has said he will review quarterback’s indefinite suspension after he is released from prison.

Even if another team is willing to sign Vick, he will surely take a huge pay cut from his previous deal. He was due to receive a base salary of $9 million and a bonus of $6.43 million from the Falcons in 2009. The remainder of his Atlanta contract was worth at least $45.11 million.

While Vick is still technically part of the team, the Falcons moved on a year ago when they drafted Matt Ryan with the No. 3 overall pick. He had a stellar debut season, leading Atlanta to an 11-5 record and an unexpected spot in the playoffs while earning The Associated Press offensive rookie of the year award.

Everyone in the organization looks forward to dealing with no more questions about Vick.

“I’m pretty much sure it’s behind us now,” running back Michael Turner said. “It’s over.”

Associated Press Writer Larry O’Dell in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report.

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