Plaxico at Philadelphia

Wide Receiver Plaxico Burress is due to be released from prison today after serving a two year sentence for weapon charges. This leaves us wondering where he will end up on his return to football.

At the age of thirty three Plaxico should still have a few years of play left in him. Football players are generally considered to be able to take a finite number of hits, over the course of their career, so not having taken any hits over the last two years may prove to be advantageous for Plaxico. In the past players have also seemingly been rejuvenated after having a rest from football. This was well demonstrated with the case of Kurt Warner who after being dropped by the Giants in favour of Eli Manning; went on to take the Arizona Cardinals to Super Bowl XLIII. All this would seem to indicate that Plaxico should still have a few plays left in the tank.

To me the best fit for him would be in Philadelphia. After two years away from the game I don’t think he can be expected to perform at the level he once did, right from the word go. The Eagles already have a lot of talent at the Wide Receiver position and so can afford Plaxico some time to regain his form. The other main reason I think Plaxico would be a good fit at Philadelphia is the precedence they set with Michael Vick.

Vick, who also spent two years away from the game due to criminal charges, could offer a lot of help to Plaxico from his own first hand personal experience. Furthermore it shows that the Eagles are prepared to take a chance on someone in a situation such as this and that they have the means to make it pay dividends. As was shown when Vick took over from Kevin Kolb as starting quarterback.

Other possible teams which have been suggested for Plaxico are the St Louis Rams and the Chicago Bears; for the simple reason that these teams have need of talent at the wide receiver position. However the fact that they may want immediate return from him in my opinion means they would not be good match ups for Plaxico. Please comment and let me know where you think Plaxico Burress might end up (when we eventually have free agency that is).