"Forget about it. Don't worry about it. Do everything you can to just put it out of your mind. That's the message Michael Vick has for DeSean Jackson.

He knows how frustrated Jackson is, how underpaid he is, how disappointed he is not to have a new contract with opening day now just a couple days away.

He also knows how dangerous it would be for Jackson to be consumed with it on game day.

He knows from first-hand experience.

It was a preseason game against the Ravens at the Georgia Dome on Aug. 16, 2003, when Vick – who has since admitted he was playing disinterested in the game – broke his right fibula while scrambling on a 3rd-and-6 deep in Falcons territory.

It may have only been a preseason game, but the injury cost Vick the first 11 regular-season games. By the time he came back, the Falcons were 2-9.

"It's always a risk to play, whether you have a contract or not," Vick said. "Any play can be your last. The thing I've learned is that you have a higher tendency of getting hurt if you go out and play lackadaisical and play not to get hurt, and that's what happened to me in 2003. So the thing is go out and play and let things take care of yourself."

And that's the message he's given to Jackson, who is scheduled to play the 2011 season under a base salary of $600,000 – the minimum due to fourth-year NFL players.

Jackson, twice a Pro Bowl receiver, already has 13 career touchdowns of 50 yards or more, third-most in NFL history by a player before his 25th birthday (behind Gale Sayers and Randy Moss).

"Obviously, it's going to be on your mind if there's something that you want, but me and DeSean talked, and he understands you can only control what you can control, and I think DeSean is going to go about it the right way and I think that will pay dividends down the road," Vick said after practice Friday.

"The most important thing is to focus on football and things will take care of itself. Just be happy, be honored and privileged to be in the position you're in because everybody doesn't have this opportunity at the end of the day and not many people are blessed with the talent that he has and can do the things that he can do."