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Plaxico Burress excited about new opportunity with Jets

Published: Sunday, July 31, 2011, 5:28 PM Updated: Sunday, July 31, 2011, 7:58 PM

Conor Orr/The Star-Ledger By Conor Orr/The Star-Ledger

PLAX.JPGEd Murray/The Star-LedgerPlaxico Burress surprised the football world and signed with the cross-town Jets on Sunday morning.

Plaxico Burress made the decision to sign a one-year deal with the Jets this morning at the Los Angeles airport after a weekend full of meetings with other teams and before an actual face-to-face with the Jets organization or a conversation with head coach Rex Ryan.

Burress said the call was easy, remembering the way that the Jets treated him in the spring of 2009 around the time of the league meetings, sitting down with him during some of his lowest moments before he went to prison.

"It really meant a lot to me and my family especially with all the events we had going on at that time and not really knowing the fate of my situation and what was going to transpire," Burress said on a conference call. "And you know just at that time, it really said a lot about them I was really humbled by it. To get the call and come back and play for someone who really supported me through the thick and not just the thin, it meant a lot to me and I just hope I can come here, play great and help win a championship."

As for the Giants, Burress said nothing negative about the meetings he had with Tom Coughlin Jerry Reese and John Mara, only that it brought back some good memories. There was "so to speak, some closure on everything that happened. And we just kind of turned the page," he said.

When asked why he chose a team right across town, he offered this:

"(I was) just going with my heart, putting myself in the best situation for me and to be able to compete and win a world championship. To become a part of a good organization, a great coach, they have a great team on deck, it was just something I want to be apart of. I feel like there's something special going on here."

All together, the Jets were competing against the Giants, 49ers, Eagles, Steelers and Rams. Burress never heard personally from the Bears or the Vikings.

Burress, who signed with the Jets today for a reported $3.017 million guaranteed, has not played a down of organized football since Nov. 16, 2008, in a 30-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens but assures that he won't be a step slower like some expected.

"I feel like I'm in great shape," he said. "A lot of people are going to be surprised. ... Everybody will get a chance to see real soon and everybody will get to make their own assessment."

He said it helped that he was already established in the New Jersey area and still owns a home here.

Burress also said that he's excited to get an opportunity to team up with Santonio Holmes again. The two played together in Pittsburgh, and Burress said he hasn't played across from someone of Holmes' caliber since they went their separate ways.

Having both of them will allow the run game to "blossom" and said that they'll be a terror for opposing defensive coordinators.

"It's going to be special, man," Burress said. "We're both excited because we both know we can go out and dominate games, make big plays and everything like that. I don't think I've ever had an opportunity to play with a guy that explosive on the other side of me."

The prison term, which he served at the Oneida Correctional Facility in Rome, N.Y., is behind him, he assures, while he promised to continue doing work inside the community.

"Pretty much where I'm at right now, I'm in a great place and I really believe that everything happens for it's own reason," he said. "You know, it was definitely something that I wish I could change but it's over now and I put it behind me and it's no longer a part of my future or what I have going onto the next chapter of my life."

Conor Orr: corr@starledger.com

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No surprise here. To sign a contract for 4 mill contract with 3 mill guaranteed when no one else might give you 50% of that, sure would make anyone happy.

IIRC Mike Vick signed with Philly for 2 yr deal with 1.6 mil in the first year!

So Philly got a huge discount the first year and they had an option to keep him around for a 2nd year if they chose to do so!

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No surprise here. To sign a contract for 4 mill contract with 3 mill guaranteed when no one else might give you 50% of that, sure would make anyone happy.

IIRC Mike Vick signed with Philly for 2 yr deal with 1.6 mil in the first year!

So Philly got a huge discount the first year and they had an option to keep him around for a 2nd year if they chose to do so!

What Vick did was FAR WORSE. Also it was going on forever.

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Burress also said that he's excited to get an opportunity to team up with Santonio Holmes again.

How does this retard have a job? Is this story really so hard to write that you need to resort to making up quotes, and even if it is, is it too much to ask to at least get the basic facts right?

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For all of you calling for Tanny's castration ... Does the 2009 conversation represent forethought and due diligence or a clever spin?

or tampering (pats raiders dolphins :rolleyes: )?

Tamper? What were they tampering with? Burress wasn't under contract. The Giants cut him before he went to prison and before anybody else tried to talk to him. The Giants also tried to hold him up for his signing bonus and it went to the courts or arbitrator. That's why I didn't think he'd be signing with the Giants no matter what bullsh*t meetings he had with Coughlin. I think that was just to show he'd "matured".

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Can he still play?

Politi: Jets' Plaxico Burress signing does not come without risk

Published: Sunday, July 31, 2011, 11:08 PM Updated: Monday, August 01, 2011, 10:38 AM

By Steve Politi/Star-Ledger Columnist The Star-Ledger

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Ed Murray/The Star-LedgerPlaxico Burress is back in New York, this time with the Jets. Can he help another New York team to Super Bowl glory?

He can write the final chapter of an incredible football story, leading both New York teams to the Super Bowl in a four-year span interrupted by 20 months in state prison.

But can he still play?

He can become the final piece for the Jets offense, giving a third-year quarterback who ranked 29th in completion percentage last season a rangy 6-foot-5 target to find in the end zone.

But can he still play?

Plaxico Burress has a big opportunity here. He not only can resurrect his career, but he can do it for a team that reached the AFC title game the last two winters. He can do it in the shadow of his former team, in front of the same fans who cheered for him when he wore blue. And he doesn’t even have to move.

He signed a one-year, $3.017 million contract with the Jets today, giving a team that loves headlines almost as much as it loves winning one of the biggest in this abbreviated offseason. Say this about Burress: He isn’t running from the attention. He’s running right at it.

But can he still play?

It all comes down to that now, and maybe the Jets’ title hopes, too. Forget the notion that this is a no-risk move. The Mark Sanchez-led offense was not some juggernaut last season that can toss aside a key piece like receiver Braylon Edwards and not replace it. This team ranked 22nd in the league in passing yards, good for just 202.6 a game.

The Jets need someone to line up opposite Santonio Holmes and force the defense to pay attention to him. Edwards caught 53 passes for 904 yards — a 17.1 average — and seven touchdowns. The Jets are counting on similar production from a player who has missed the last two seasons, no sure bet by any means.

“The only thing I can say is, everyone will get the chance to see very soon,” Burress said during a teleconference today, “and everyone can make their own assessment.”

That includes the Jets, who signed him without working him out first. There is nothing for them to go on here but faith that Burress is a superior athlete who has stayed in shape, and there are no indications he hasn’t.

Still, he is about to turn 34, and that number alone should give them pause. Of the top 40 wide receivers last season in passes caught, only three were older than 33 — Terrell Owens (37), Derrick Mason (37) and Hines Ward (35).

More coverage:

• Complete Jets coverage on NJ.com

• Complete Giants coverage on NJ.com

The average age of the top 40 receivers is 27.4. Burress’ yards per catch were already declining before he shot himself out of the league — from 19.9 in his final season in Pittsburgh in 2004, to 16.0 in his first with the Giants, to 13.0 in the 10 games he played in 2008.

“I feel I’m in great shape,” Burress said. “A lot of people are going to be surprised with my conditioning and different things (I did) down in South Florida to get myself back to where I need to be and that’s definitely to get back to playing at a high level real soon.”

In almost every way, this is a good fit for Burress. He steps onto a veteran team with championship potential, one that’s had success with older players on short-term deals (LaDainian Tomlinson, Jason Taylor and Trevor Pryce, to name three). He has a head coach in Rex Ryan who won’t throw him out of the building if he’s late for a team meeting or two.

But Burress didn’t pick the Jets because of Ryan — the two never spoke before he signed. He picked them because they offered him more guaranteed money. Burress insisted he went with his heart when he picked the Jets, which might be true, but he also went with his wallet.

He said all the right things today. He will continue working with the National Urban League to encourage kids to stay away from guns. He praised team owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum for visiting him in 2009 when he was mostly ostracized from the NFL.

This is no longer about the lessons Burress has learned off the field now. For this story to have a happy ending for the Jets, they’ll need him to contribute. Burress has a chance to pick his career off the scrap heap become one of the best stories in the NFL this season, and maybe help the Jets reach the Super Bowl in the process.

But can he still play?

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We are not talking about what they did. Thats a separate discussion. Its all about their football contracts!

Of course its about what they did. Teams were afraid of a backlash from protesters over Vicks crime. Thats not an issue with PB. Plax didn't mistreat & kill dogs, no group was going to park outside of Florum Park and call for boycots of all things Jet.

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Of course its about what they did. Teams were afraid of a backlash from protesters over Vicks crime. Thats not an issue with PB. Plax didn't mistreat & kill dogs, no group was going to park outside of Florum Park and call for boycots of all things Jet.

Not saying you are wrong. But that's a different discussion.

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