Plaxico Burress 2 yrs?

Posted in Music | August 20th, 2009

2011 when he will be nearly 34 years old and having not been on a football field – other than anything they might have in the the prison yard – for the previous 30 months. Even so, he should have no problem finding a new team that will provide him the opportunity to resume his career as a wide receiver.
The NFL is all about giving players second chances, especially those who catch 11 passes in an NFC title game in brutally cold weather and two weeks later catch the winning TD in the Super Bowl. You can count on Burress getting phone calls to play again the moment he is available.
Two full seasons away at this advanced stage in his career probably means he probably will never be the player he was for the Giants when he did as much as anybody to win the Super Bowl, but if as many teams need receivers in two years as there are right now, he might even have teams lining up to sign him.
“I think he will get another chance. Our league is filled with second chances,” one general manager told me Thursday. “It will be one of those opportunities where he will have to go prove he has something left. The odds will certainly be against him.”
Burress, the ex-Giants Super Bowl hero, accepted a plea bargain Thursday on gun charges and will serve two years in state prison. He will be sentenced on Sept. 22 and is expected to be jailed that day. That gets the clock running on his jail time and with good behavior he could be out in 20 months. He has tremendous incentive to stay out of prison: Getting out in May of ’11 instead of September could mean a chance to play that year or not.
The Daily News reported Sunday that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was going to suspend Burress a minimum of eight games and possibly for the entire 2009 season as he awaited trial, which was not expected until next spring.
Now what does Goodell do? I think he will look at Burress’ prison sentence as time served as far as a suspension. Goodell could then conditionally reinstate Burress when he is released from prison, letting him sign with any team that wants him. He is not currently under contract to any team, so he will be a free agent when he gets out.
That’s the same approach Goodell took with Michael Vick, who signed with the Eagles last week. Goodell will let him know no later than the sixth week of the season when he can play in the regular season.
Goodell met with Burress in the last week, which could have influenced Plax’ decision to take a plea bargain. Goodell likely painted a gloomy picture about Burress’ chances of playing this season. If Goodell has suspended Burress for the 2009 season and he waited to take a plea bargain, he could have missed the 2011 season as well. If he went to trial next spring and was convicted, he was facing 3 1/2 years in prison, which would have ended his career.
Will Burress have anything left by the 2011 season? If his career had been uninterrupted, that would be his 12th season in the league, which is a lot for wide receivers who obviously depend so much on their legs. Assuming he stays in shape, Burress will still be desireable player. Not many wideouts in the league are 6-5 with a wingspan like his who hang on to just about everything.
And any team that wants him doesn’t have to worry about the public backlash the Eagles are facing in Philadelphia after signing Vick, a convicted dogkiller. Burress is very fortunate he didn’t hurt or kill anybody when his gun went off in that Manhattan nightclub. In the end, the only person he hurt was himself, both physically with the bullet through the thigh, and taking a chunk out of his career and blowing up his $35 million contract extension.
Burress was well-liked in the Giants locker room and this is a sad day around the team. Management liked him enough to give him that big contract extension hours before the season opener last September. He made a big mistake last November when he carried his gun into New York City, breaking the law.
On Sept. 20, the Giants are playing Dallas in the first regular season games in the Cowboys new $1 billion stadium. Two days later, Burress will be led off to jail. This is an amazing fall for a Super Bowl hero.

Source: Daily News

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