Plaxico Should be a Welcome Addition to Most Teams

Plaxico Burress, looking
for a job?

It would seem that a 33 year old wide receiver who has not been on an NFL field since 2008 would be a waste of time to sign, but I will give you a few reasons why this should not be the case.
First and foremost, most guys who come out of the clink are happy to be out despite the fact that it is difficult to find employment and in effect are starting their lives over to some degree.  Plaxico, is one of the lucky few that will be able to get right back into his former profession and make good money at the same time.  He has been dreaming of the moment that he gets to set foot on the field and help out the team smart enough to put their faith in Mr. Burress.  In this view, Plaxico will be indebted to this team at least for the first year and then if he does well, this conversation is out the window and will probably be about the cash money.  He is going to have to work hard for this money though, knowing he needs to have a good season before he makes the big money.
Another reason I think that he will be a welcome addition is that he will be physically back into the swing of things fairly quickly.  As a wide receiver, especially a tall leaper who sticks mostly to outside the hash marks, there will not be a big learning curve adjustment.  Coaches are not going to ask Plaxico to run option routes and think about where he should be vs certain defenses, they are going to say here is a jump ball go and get it for a bit until his feet are wet and then he will start learning the more complicated things.  Unlike running backs, wide receivers stick around the league a bit longer and can excel at advanced ages.  Look at TO, Derrick Mason and Steve Smith, and they don't have the benefit of having 2 years of rest on their body.
Most important to most teams and general managers is that he should be fairly cheap for a guy who scored 10 or more touchdown in his last 2 full seasons and was right around a 1,000 yards or more for the last 3.  That kind of production at value dollars, should be a go ahead for just about any team in this league.
So as long as somebody doesn't give this guy the moon, which would defeat the purpose of this article as he could then become lazy as he does not really have to work that hard to make big money.  I hope a team signs him for a year with an option for the next couple.  That would be smart in my opinion, but as we have seen there are plenty of dumb teams in this league as Plaxico's agent is very aware of.  I am sure his first calls were to Al Davis and Mike Brown.