Plaxico Burress Set For Release: Will He Be on The St. Louis Rams In 2011?

Plaxico Burress is set for release in June of this year. Burress is finishing out a prison sentence for an accidental shooting in which he shot himself in the leg on November 28th, 2008. Agent Drew Rosenhaus recently indicated that Burress was in great shape, after seeing him in a prison visit.

Michael Vick is a testament that a player can stay in shape after coming out of jail. It takes time to get back into the flow of the game and there is no substitute for playing football, but assuming Burress has let himself go behind bars is incorrect.

Vick didn't draw much action from teams in the NFL. Many teams shied away from bringing in a player who committed a crime so despicable in the eyes of their fan base. Vick has seemingly redeemed himself and while fans are still disgusted by his abuse towards animals, it seems as though most are willing to forgive him.

Teams who actively pursue Burress won't see nearly the backlash teams who went after Vick saw. Burress shot himself in the leg. It was a mistake, surely. He shouldn't have had the gun there and the law is the law. Burress did his time and despite his shaky past, it seems inevitable that a team will take a chance on him.

One team who seems like they would be very interested in Burress is the St. Louis Rams. The Rams are in dire need of a wide receiver to compliment their run game and give 2010 rookie sensation Sam Bradford a reliable target.

Burress is 6'5". It is going to take him a while to get reacquainted with the NFL, but he could immediately become the number one receiver in St. Louis. Giving Bradford a huge possession receiver could pay dividends for the offense.

Bradford had limited targets to work with and still managed to be successful, giving the Rams more wins than they had seen in their past three seasons combined. The Rams have nothing to lose in bringing in Burress.

Not only will the Rams bring in their number one receiver, they will be getting him at a bargain rate. At one point, Burress was playing one a five-year $35 million contract. The Rams are a fringe playoff team right now. If they could obtain a receiver with Burress' skill set without even adversely affecting the cap, they need to grab hold of the opportunity.

The addition of Burress could spell playoffs.