The odds of Plaxico Burress signing with an NFL team for the 2009 season seem to be getting longer by the day. Beyond the legal issues, potential chemistry disruption and questions about what playing shape Plax is in, the threat of a lengthy NFL suspension looms for any franchise even considering Burress as an option.Roger Goodell's season-long ban of Donte' Stallworth has set the bar for any future suspension -- Burress injured himself, of course, as opposed to killing someone while driving drunk, so it would make sense if his penalty was less severe than Stallworth's.
According to a report by Gary Myers of the New York Daily News, Burress would still be forced to miss substantial time, though.
Myers cites "sources" as saying that Goodell would suspend Burress for at least eight games, and possibly longer.
Eight games actually seems about right -- between Stallworth's sentence and Michael Vick's maximum six-game suspension, an eight-gamer for Burress would make sense.
This is probably all moot at this point. It's hard to envision any team taking a run at Burress for 2009, especially since that team would be planning for Week 9 and beyond. That creates a Catch-22 of sorts: Only a playoff team would deem Burress' acquisition worthwhile for half a season, but why would a likely playoff team mess with its lineup by adding a major distraction in?
Plaxico's going to have to explore other options, I'd guess, which probably means the UFL. He's got a mess waiting for him in the NFL, and it doesn't appear set to go away any time soon.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-15-2009 @ 7:22PM
Ted said...
Goodell's "get tough" policy is nothing but glass beads and chicken feathers. If he really wants to clean up the league and send a message to other players, then do it!
Currently, the NFL is a daycare for any overpaid low-life thugs/slugs who can throw, catch, or carry a football.
Any player convicted of a felony, drug use, or drug possession should be banned from the NFL for life.
THAT would send a message to the rest of the scum in the league.
To those of you who argue that a player "just made a mistake" and deserves a second chance, I say "F You". It's not like that in the rest of the business world.
Teachers (God's gift to us), engineers, and doctors all face that penalty.
Burress' ignorant actions, besides breaking multiple laws, could have killed an innocent person.
If Goodell and the NFL continue to condone such actions with token penalties, that is an additional crime.
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8-15-2009 @ 8:34PM
glid13 said...
Ted,YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD,100% TRUE.NFL IS LIKE THE NBA ALL OR MOSTLY THUGS.GOODELL SHOULD BE FIRED AND THE EAGLES SHOULD BE BANNED FROM THE NFL.VICK SHOULD BE IN JAIL FOR LIFE.WE CAN'T EVEN GET PETE ROSE IN THE HALL AND HE DID'NT KILL ANYONE.
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8-15-2009 @ 8:42PM
Dean said...
The NFL continues to go down the drain with all the thugs it has.
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8-15-2009 @ 9:18PM
Smoothoperator said...
Will plex have to serve the 8 games before or after the 15 yrs. I cannot stand Mayor bloomberg the criminal and his anti-gun stance, but the NFL tutors these thugs not to carry a gun. If they caught me ( I carry everywhere) I'd probably would already been executed. (John Q. Public) Put this guy away for 15 biggones....
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8-15-2009 @ 11:01PM
mssolange said...
I don't know what he didn't take the plea bargain. He might have been on the field sooner than not.
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8-15-2009 @ 11:14PM
t said...
Plax is a know-it-all, spoiled, arrogant putz and a selfish child. He's had a BILLION "chances" in football and life. He ignored every oppurtunity presented to him and did things however he wantede regardless who it hurt.
He does NOT represent law-abiding, decent gun lovers and should be locked up for the maximum allowable sentence.
The NFL tells players NOT to carry guns, and even offers FREE armed bodyguards for *any player*!!!. Burress just wanted to be ""hard"" and "pack a piece".
Send him to jail.
It's bad enough that Vick gets to be a lifelong career felon and still be allowed back into the league. If Burress walks on this it's obviously a case of pampering "poor, helpless, mistreated, misunderstood, black athletes".
Plaxico turned HIMSELF into a bad stereotype. So did Vick. But America is so wrapped up in BS guilt over a long ago past that we allow these man-children to endanger themselves and us all.
No more excuses: make everyone pay equally for his own behavior.
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8-16-2009 @ 1:04AM
mike1121 said...
plax didnt shoot anyone but his ego. I think at the most he should get is probation and a heavty fine. as far as the nfl goodell should sit him out for the year. as for vick he will never put him self into any other kind of trouble and if he does then that should be the end of his life in the nfl
8-16-2009 @ 1:32PM
tlc5300 said...
Is there anyone out there that thinks Plaxico should just have his wrist slapped, pay a fine, and get back to playing football? Does anyone out there think Michael Vick has already paid his debt to society and should resume his football career A.S.A.P.? Does anyone out there think with all the owners being White and most of the players being Black has lead to a communication break down that the mostly White press report the news from the owners perspective? And are clueless and threatened by the Black man? Discuss
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