TUCK WANTS BURRESS TO RETURN, IF HE CHANGES

Giants defensive end Justin Tuck, an All-Pro who became one of the team’s leaders after the retirement of Michael Strahan and a season-killing knee injury to Osi Umenyiora, told Dan Patrick on Thursday that Tuck would like to see receiver Plaxico Burress return to the team. But Burress would have to change. “I would love to have him back,” Tuck said. “He’s a teammate that made some mistakes. Hopefully he’s learned from them. If that’s the case, then, yes, I would love to have him back. But if he hasn’t, obviously not.” Tuck said he believes that he’s speaking for the whole team in that regard. “The Giants are an organization that doesn’t look highly on low character or people who are selfish,” Tuck said. Tuck pegged the chances of Plaxico’s return at 50-50. The Giants’ players want Burress because they know that they need someone who can draw double coverage on every offensive snap. Not having a player like that essentially gives the defense an extra man. So the Giants should look for another guy who can attract that attention. The only problem, of course, is that there aren’t all that many of them. Apart from Burress, the others (we’re surely missing someone, and you’ll surely let us know about it) arguably include Lee Evans, Randy Moss, Chad Johnson, Braylon Edwards (when he can catch the ball), Andre Johnson, Reggie Wayne, Brandon Marshall, Dwayne Bowe, Terrell Owens, Calvin Johnson, Roddy White, Steve Smith, Marques Colston, Antonio Bryant, Larry Fitzgerald, and Anquan Boldin. Of those, maybe a trade can be swung for Edwards or Boldin. Bryant will be a free agent, but the Bucs have the cap room to keep him around. Owens might end up being available for nothing, but there are growing questions about whether he’s in decline. The other option is to try to develop a current player into a guy who draws constant double teams. The team had high hopes for Domenik Hixon, but he has a long way to go to become one of the few guys who can open up an offense by taking two guys away from the defense.