Will Plaxico Burress' Fate Be Similar To That of Michael Vick's?

(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)

As probably everyone reading this already knows, Michael Vick was recently signed by the Philadelphia Eagles after serving an 18-month prison sentence for bankrolling a dog-fighting ring among other things. Now, almost as many of you also probably know that Plaxico Burress will be serving around two years in prison for accidentally shooting himself with an unlicensed gun. Both Burress and Vick were premier players in the NFL before having to serve prison time.

My question is: Will Plaxico Burress be welcome back like Michael Vick was when he gets out of jail?

My short answer is: Probably, most people consider Burress' crime to be less "horrible" than Vick's crime.

Now for a more detailed answer: Burress will most likely be welcomed back to the NFL much more willingly by teams and fans because what he did did not involve taking any lives whereas Vick killed and was responsible for the deaths of multiple animals. That should be reason enough for people to let Burress back.

Burress' Intentions

One argument against Burress' case is that he may have had the gun with the intention of using it against someone later. He can just say that he was carrying the gun for self-defense even if that was not his intention because there is nothing to prove otherwise. If that is a legitimate argument, then you are comparing human lives against animal lives.

I will let you decide which is more "important" because this article is on sports and not ethics.

Skill Comparison

After a long period of time in jail, any athlete is very likely to lose at least some of their athletic ability. It is just a fact of the human body. If you cannot practice certain aspects of football, then you will be weaker in those aspects than what you were able to practice. 

From what I have heard, Vick has still retained a lot of the talent that he had before he served his prison time. It will be interesting to see how much talent Plaxico Burress is able to keep after an even longer sentence than Vick. Talent will obviously be a huge factor in Burress signing with a team.

Opposition

A huge part of the challenge for Vick to come back was all of the opposition that he faced from animal lovers and groups like the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Burress will not have nearly the same resistance from people who are against guns than Vick had from people who are against animal cruelty.

Random Factors

There are also a few other factors that were key in Vick making his return, that Burress will also have to do something similar to. For one thing, Vick had the respected Tony Dungy mentoring him throughout his progress back into the NFL. If Burress can find someone who is willing to mentor him throughout his progress into the NFL, then he should be much more likely to play professional football.

Another key to Vick's journey back to the NFL was his ability to prove that he felt remorse for the crimes he committed. This may not sound as important for Burress to do as it was for Vick, but it is pretty close to the same importance. That is because you want Burress to learn that he should not carry around anything illegal (especially a weapon) and to prevent it from happening again.

If Burress is able to show that he will be able stay out of trouble, and if he can keep the majority of his previous talent then we should see Burress in an NFL uniform around two years from now.

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