The Jets have a real need at receiver. But they really don’t want Plaxico Burress.
No one wants Plaxico Burress. And it makes no sense.
Last year, fresh from an extended stay at the Motel 6-to-10, Burress had multiple suitors. The Jets wanted him. The 49ers were interested. His former teams, the Steelers and Giants, at least feigned interest.
Ultimately, Burress took a one-year deal to play with the Jets, at $3 million. After eight touchdowns and a full non-prison year to get himself back in shape, the phone isn’t ringing.
Apart from a tire-kicking in Foxboro, Burress has gotten the cold shoulder. And he’s understandably confused.
“Nobody’s even seen me and put me out on the field. That’s the sad part about it,” Burress told Mike Garafolo of USA Today on Wednesday. “Right now, if I was to sign with a team and go out and play, I’m going to do some damage, because I’m back to being the player I know I can be.”
The Jets prefer to go with a younger guy. With Santonio Holmes done for the year, Rex Ryan and company have opted for Jason Hill.
“I don’t know who he is,” Burress said. “I’m sorry.” (Don’t be. Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis said the same thing last year.)
And while it would be easy to say that the Jets don’t want Burress in part because of things he has said about quarterback Mark Sanchez in recent months, Hill’s comments from last season about the Jets being “overhyped” didn’t hurt his chances.
The whole situation is strange. Maybe teams have heard too many stories about Burress being chronically late or not thinking the rules applied to him while he was with the Giants. (If any of that happened last year with the Jets, no one has been talking much about it.) Maybe teams don’t want a guy who went to jail for shooting himself in the leg -- even though plenty of teams wanted him last year, when the stigma was much more fresh.
Either way, it’s shocking that teams looking for wideout help won’t even bring him in to see what he can do.