Brett Favre and Michael Vick never played together. But because of their off-field missteps, the two talented quarterbacks will forever be linked together.
In the new Netflix docuseries Untold: The Fall of Favre, director Rebecca Gitlitz interviewed Vick to get the former Philadelphia Eagles' star's take on living in America as a privileged professional athlete and ultimately losing it all.
"I was wondering, and not to compare Brett Favre’s story to Michael Vick's story, but Michael Vick's story was everywhere, right?" Gitlitz said. "It touched every piece and every corner of this country. People that don't know anything about sports were like, ‘Oh well, Michael Vick and the dogs.’ And I didn't understand that in reference to this story, and so I wanted people to sort of be provoked right by Michael Vick and like, this is a star quarterback, and he can speak to being a star quarterback and the privilege and the fall better than anybody. So Michael Vick was… yeah, he was someone that I really wanted a part of."
Vick, of course, had his Pro Bowl career interrupted in 2007 when he was convicted of running a dogfighting enterprise in which he tortured and killed animals. After spending 21 years in federal prison, he signed with the Eagles. In 2010 he led Philly to the NFC East title, went to the Pro Bowl and won Comeback Player of the Year.
Gitlitz says Vick has been “fully accountable” for his past offenses and that he’s “at peace” with his actions. He's been the subject of his own docuseries, the ESPN 30 for 30: VICK. He's now head coach at Norfolk State in Virginia.
After a Hall-of-Fame career in which he won three MVPs and a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers, Favre too found himself embroiled in controversies. The documentary dives into two episodes that have severely stained Favre's legacy.
In 2008 he sent inappropriate and unsolicited voice mails and lewd texts to New York Jets reporter Jenn Sterger. And in 2020 he was accused of taking part in a scandal that misdirected $77 million in public funds earmarked for the poorest people in Mississippi for private use by wealthy individuals.
Favre has never been criminally charged, but he was forced to pay back $1.1 million in funds he earned for speaking engagements at which he didn't even appear. He is also accused of working with Mississippi officials to redirect $5 million from the funds to build a volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi, his alma mater and the school where his daughter played the sport.