Suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was sentenced yesterday to 23 months in federal prison for conspiracy charges related to a dogfighting ring he operated and financed.

The length of Vick’s sentence and the indefinite suspension the NFL has imposed on him means he has a long, uphill battle to get back in the league. Under federal sentencing laws, Vick will probably be released in the summer of 2009, and the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell would likely force Vick to wait at least a year after he’s out of prison before he’s back in the league. By the time the NFL reinstates him, it could be 2010, and Vick will have gone more than three years since throwing his last pass. No NFL team is likely to be interested in a quarterback with that much rust.

But if Vick is prepared to do everything right — to serve out his sentence, show remorse upon release, and conduct himself in such a way that Goodell will agree to reinstate him — he has a chance of playing in the NFL again. And his best chance is to leave quarterback behind and find a team willing to give him a shot at another position.

Vick would, without a doubt, be reluctant to switch from quarterback, the position he has played all his life, and the position some NFL observers thought he would redefine with his unique blend of arm strength and running ability. But part of getting his life back together after he gets out of prison will be accepting that his world has changed permanently, and that he needs to embrace whatever chance he gets at playing in the NFL.

There’s no question that Vick has the athletic ability to play another position. Vick is the best running quarterback in NFL history, and last year he ran 123 times for 1,039 yards, an NFL record average of 8.45 yards a carry. If something had prevented Vick from playing quarterback before his legal mess — if, say, an elbow injury kept him from throwing a football — Vick was a talented enough athlete that he still could have played in the NFL.

But what position would Vick play if he returns to the NFL in 2010? A talent scout evaluating Vick would see that he is 6 feet tall and 215 pounds, with great straight-line speed and good cutting ability, and most likely would conclude that wide receiver is the right spot for him. Many players have switched to receiver after starting their football careers as quarterbacks, including the Jets’ Brad Smith, the Washington Redskins’ Antwaan Randle El, the Cleveland Browns’ Josh Cribbs, and the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Matt Jones. All of them, however, made the switch when they left college and entered the NFL, not at age 30, which is what Vick will be in 2010. His age makes things trickier for Vick because so few athletes in any sport are able to completely reinvent themselves after their 30th birthdays.

The role on the football field that might be best suited to Vick’s skills is returning punts. Vick has always had excellent speed, a knack for avoiding tacklers without slowing down, and the vision necessary to read the whole field in front of him. Those are the skills required of a punt returner, and in terms of his raw athletic talent, the NFL player Vick may resemble most closely is not one of his fellow quarterbacks but Chicago Bears return man Devin Hester, who shares Vick’s speed and elusiveness in the open field, and who is the NFL’s best kick returner.

No NFL player has ever faced circumstances quite like Vick’s but there have been a handful of players who have returned after long layoffs. For one, Chris Redman, who started at quarterback for the Falcons last night against the New Orleans Saints, spent most of the last three years selling insurance before returning this season with the Falcons — a chance he might never have had were it not for Vick’s predicament. Former NFL quarterback Tommy Maddox also spent a long layoff as an insurance salesman between stints in the NFL.

A few other players have returned to the league after long layoffs because of injuries. Former New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins running back Robert Edwards suffered a knee injury after his rookie season in 1998, missed three full seasons, and then returned to the NFL in 2002. Offensive tackle Orlando Brown nearly lost his eye when he was hit with a weighted penalty flag thrown by a referee during a game in 1999. He finally returned to the field in 2003 and played three more seasons for the Baltimore Ravens.

But what separates Vick from Redman, Maddox, Edwards, and Brown is that the teams offering those players a second chance weren’t risking anything: If those players had proven unable to come back successfully, their teams could have cut them without any consequences. The only way that will be the case with Vick is if a team brings him in with the clear understanding that he’s not a quarterback anymore. Because Vick plays quarterback in such a unique fashion, an offense needs to be designed around his skills. A team that brought him back as a quarterback and found that he wasn’t able to shake off the rust from his long layoff would be throwing its season away.

But a team that brought Vick back as a wide receiver and a return man would get a free look at a special player. If a team gives Vick a shot and he can’t make the transition to a new position, the team hasn’t lost anything. If he makes the transition successfully, his new team has added an incredible athlete to its roster.

Vick entered the league in 2001 with the potential to be a unique player in NFL history. He may return to the league in 2010 and fulfill that potential in a way no one could have imagined.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com