Pittsburgh Steelers: Could WR Plaxico Burress Wind Up Baxico with His Old Team?

Wide receiver Plaxico Burress, most recently of the New York Jets, was interviewed on Tuesday by Adam Schein and Rich Gannon on Sirius/XM NFL Radio about where he would like to play in 2012.

The free-agent receiver just wrapped up his first season in the league after being released from prison, notching 45 catches for 612 yards and eight scores for the pass-deficient Jets. At age 34, the veteran wideout could have another season or two of productive playing time ahead of him.

Though Burress listed off a number of teams he'd be interested in playing for (his former team the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles among them) he lavished the most praise upon the team that brought him into the league to begin with—the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Burress said that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is his favorite quarterback of all time, his personal John Elway in fact, and that he'd definitely want to come back if the Steelers would have him.

Clearly Burress wants to have a paycheck in 2012, and would gladly play for any team that offers him a contract. Still, there is a case (albeit slim) to be made for Burress rejoining the Steelers for the upcoming season.

The top reason why re-signing Burress could make sense for the Steelers is what's about to happen with receiver Mike Wallace—that is, they're very close to losing him in free agency to a team willing to give him a good offer and forfeit their first-round pick to the Steelers.

Should Wallace leave, fellow receiver Antonio Brown will be more than capable of picking up his slack, but the Steelers would still need to make at least one addition to their receiving corps to have proper depth.

The smartest move would be to re-sign Jerricho Cotchery to an affordable deal and then draft a receiver in April, but Burress could also be in play if he comes at the right price and makes a strong enough case for himself.

Money's a bit of a problem here with the Steelers' cap problems still on questionable ground, but Burress' issues and age will keep his price down—perhaps at veteran minimum levels.

However, Cotchery already has locker room support in Pittsburgh, while it's hard to tell if anyone other than Roethlisberger would welcome Burress back. Cotchery is also just 29 years old and can certainly contribute to the team for more years than Burress should the Steelers consider offering him a multi-year deal.

If Pittsburgh needs to bring on a veteran receiver, it seems as though Cotchery would be the better fit. Reasons like "he's tall," and "he's played with them before," aren't compelling enough for the Steelers to bite on Burress this year.

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