Vick's father speaks out

Michael Vick's father said he asked his son to give up dogfighting, or to at least put property used in the venture in the names of others to avoid being implicated, according to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Also last night, a report on ESPN.com quoted a source as saying Vick will not admit to killing dogs or gambling on dogfights when he enters a guity plea in a Richmond federal court Monday.

The source told ESPN that Vick's defense team met with federal attorneys yesterday afternoon to determine the "summary of facts" to which Vick will plead. But the source said Vick maintains he never killed dogs and never gambled on a dogfight. The source said the Falcons quarterback will plead guilty to the charge of interstate commerce for the purpose of dogfighting.

In The Journal-Constitution report posted on the newspaper's website, Michael Boddie, who is estranged from Vick and the quarterback's mother, also said some time around 2001 his son staged dogfights in the garage of the family home in Newport News, Va.

Boddie told the newspaper Vick kept fighting dogs in the family's backyard, including dogs that were "bit up, chewed up, exhausted." Boddie claimed to have nursed the dogs back to health.

The indictment against Vick does not mention the parents' former home in Newport News. In the report, Boddie dismissed the idea that Vick's longtime friends were the main instigators of the dogfighting operation.

"I wish people would stop sugarcoating it," Boddie told The Journal-Constitution. "This is Mike's thing. And he knows it . . . likes it, and he has the capital to have a setup like that."

Boddie, 45, lives in an apartment his son has paid the rent on for the last three years. Vick, who has a $130 million contract with the Falcons, also gives him a couple of hundred dollars every week or two, the father told the newspaper.

In the report, Boddie also said he asked Vick for $1 million, spread out over 12 years, Vick declined, the father said. Recently, Boddie asked Vick, through an assistant, for $700,000 to live on.

The Redskins acquired veteran offensive lineman Pete Kendall from the Jets in a trade, hoping he'll fill a hole at left guard.

New York will receive a fifth-round pick in 2008 or a fourth-rounder in 2009, depending on how many snaps Kendall plays this season.

The Redskins also did what New York wouldn't -- give the 34-year-old a raise of $1 million, boosting his salary this year to $2.7 million -- as part of a new, two-year $5 million contract.

"It's exciting to me, and it's a relief, too," Kendall said at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va., after taking a physical, "to have what was hanging over me over with now."

Linebacker Jeremiah Trotter worked out for the Buccaneers, two days after being released by the Eagles. Coach Jon Gruden, general manager Bruce Allen, and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin also took a look at linebacker Al Singleton, who played six years in Tampa Bay before spending the last four seasons with the Cowboys. Gruden declined to discuss the prospect of adding either veteran, although he clearly is intrigued by Trotter, who was released with three years remaining on a five-year, $15 million contract. "We've competed against him for years. He's no question a very physical linebacker," Gruden said before the workout . . . Packers Pro Bowl receiver Donald Driver was taken to the locker room just before halftime of Green Bay's 21-13 loss to Jacksonville with an injury to his right foot and did not return . . . Drew Brees completed 17 of 19 passes for 182 yards and one touchdown in the Saints' 30-7 victory over the Chiefs . . . Cowboys starting cornerback Terence Newman isn't expected to play the rest of the exhibition season because of a right heel problem that the team said is more than a bruise . . . Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle and wide receiver Mark Clayton, who sprained their ankles in an exhibition loss last Sunday against the Giants, won't play again this preseason but insist they'll be ready for Week 1 . . . Britt Reid, 22, son of Eagles coach Andy Reid and awaiting sentencing in a road-rage case, was detained in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., on suspicion of driving while impaired.