Where will Plaxico Burress end up in 2009? Prison, the Jets, Bucs, Bears? This, in my opinion, is more interesting than trying to figure out what Brett Favre will do. Burress recently had his gun case delayed until Sept. 23, so it’s not completely out of the question that Plax gets to play a full season in 2009. His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told reporters that he doesn’t Roger Goodell will suspend Burress until the case is finsihed. And of course his agent, Drew Rosenhaus agrees.
“Our hope is, based on this information, that he’ll be able to play unobstructed this year, without having a trial and he can get a season in and then deal with the legal issues after the season,” Rosenhaus told Miami television WSVN-TV. “This is our hope, and this is what I’m communicating to the rest of the NFL teams.”
OK, so if he gets to play next year where will it be? As I can gather it’s pretty much down to 3 teams.
New York Jets – My boys in Jersey haven’t had a WR like Burress since Keyshawn Johnson was in kelly green. A tall guy that you can just flip the ball in the air to and he will go and get it. Just ask Eli Manning how nice it was. Rumor has it that NY has cooled off on the idea of picking this cat up.
Dave Hutchinson of the Newark Star-Ledger is hearing that the Jets feel that their collective group of wide receivers are good enough to get the job done. Besides, it’s still only June and the organization will keep its options open at the wide receiver position. “Consistent with our philosophy, we will continue to do our due diligence with any and all free agents that are available now and in the future,” the Jets said in a statement
Do the Jets need Plax? Yes they do. Let’s not forget how much they were in LOVE with the 3 QB options on the team. Then they drafted Mark Sanchez. Nothing against the stock of WRs NY has now, but bringing in Burress will give the Jets an actual # 1 WR. Jerricho Cotchery, Chansi Stuckey, David Clowney, Brad Smith and Wallace Wright are the top options at WR right now. Wide Receivers coach Henry Ellard believes they have what it takes to get the job done.
“Yeah, we would love to have him because he adds to what we already have,” Ellard said of Burress. “But, if it came down to it, I think we’ll be fine with what we already have. We’re a little short on experience, but that’s going to come with time.”
It’s nice to have confidence in your players, and I’m sure they will be halfway decent. Chansi Stuckey started out 2008 pretty well, David Clowney showed flashes of his speed in pre-season, and Wright is an outstanding special teams player, but this won’t be enough, contrary to what Wright says…
“We don’t think we need him,” Wright said. “I’m just going to be straight-up honest with you. We feel like we’re a strength on this team. We feel we have it right in our room. We don’t need anybody coming in, and we don’t need anybody coming out.”
IMO the Jets go after Plax, and get him. Burress stays in NY in 2009. But hold on just one damn second. 2 other teams still want this dude. The Bears and Bucs remain.
Chicago Bears -The Bears need a WR, I don’t care what anybody says. And you Bears fans can blast me all you want. Face the facts, your receivers suck. Last month we did a write-up on the suckiness of Chicago’s Wideouts. And couldn’t understand why Bears GM Jerry Angelo would not pursue Burress. Before Chicago added themselves to the Burress sweepstakes, Angelo spoke about the possiblilty of being 1 of the 2 teams interested in Plax. Pretty simple,
“Are we one of those two teams? No,” Angelo said.
But he has since changed his tune, maybe because he saw that Yahoo! ranked his WR’s the worst of all time. Now he says…
”I can’t say that it’s 50-50 or anything like that,” he told the team’s Web site. ”We plan on going into training camp with what we have right now.”
I think you need a new plan. Granted, the team is more focused on the run with Matt Forte. But with the lack of talent at the WR position, having Jay Cutler will be no better than having Kyle Orton. Not that Orton was bad, but he had no one to throw the ball to.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers – The Bucs are the third team thrown into the mix. And probably the least likely to sign Burress. It seems Tampa Bay may be losing interest in Burress. Head Coach Raheem Morris sounds a lot like a guy who would like to have Burress on his team but, there is a feeling inside Buccaneers headquarters that adding Burress may be a step in the wrong direction.
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