Plaxico Burress: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Should Pass on Plax

Ah, the sweet smell of freedom. Liberty. To shake the confines of external regulation and boast full control to guide one’s own life free of restraint. It’s the foundation upon which America was built.

That and second chances.

Former Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress was released from a New York state prison Monday, and no sooner than he held his new daughter, who was born while he was incarcerated, was his flamboyant agent, Drew Rosenhaus, addressing the media, proclaiming that multiple teams would be interested in signing the former Super Bowl champion and that he expects his client to get a good contract.

“Plaxico is going to be a top free agent,” Rosenhaus said. “There are going to be multiple teams interested in signing him...I think he’ll be coveted.”

Just don’t expect the Buccaneers to be among the buyers.

Burress and the Buccaneers showed signs of courtship in 2009 before that whole “shooting himself in the leg” thing landed the wideout in prison. Now, NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora can’t help but wonder if the Buccaneers could be dark horses to land Plax this time around.

Thanks, but no thanks.

The Buccaneers snubbed HBO’s Hard Knocks to “keep the focus on the field in 2011,” something that has been difficult with the extended NFL lockout and off-the-field legal issues, most notably the Aqib Talib indictment. Fitting Burress for a creamsicle after almost two years in inmate orange might not be the best way to shed that stigma.

But baggage is not the only thing keeping the Buccaneers from taking a shot at Plax.

They’re far more talented at the receiver position than they were in 2009. Mike Williams is coming off a near 1,000-yard season in which he set a franchise rookie record with 11 touchdowns. Arrelious Benn showed signs of emergence as a serviceable No. 2 option down the stretch in 2010, catching eight balls for 172 yards combined in his final three games before being sidelined with a knee injury, from which his recovery is reportedly ahead of schedule.

Compare that duo to Antonio Bryant and Michael Clayton in 2009, who combined for 55 catches for 830 yards and five touchdowns.

That’s 10 catches, 134 yards and six touchdowns less than Williams had alone in 2010.

No wonder the Buccaneers were interested in Plax.

And it’s not just that the Buccaneers are better. Plaxico is older. And using Michael Vick’s unlikely and ultimately triumphant return to NFL stardom as precedent is simply impotent.

Plax is no No. 7.

Not only does he turn 34 next month (Vick was 29 when he returned to the NFL), he’s simply not the transcendent athlete Vick was before captivity. He never played the game with the prowess of Vick. If Vick returned to the game slower and less electrifying out of prison, he still would have been considered elite. Instead, it appears he's even better.

He’s just that gifted.

Burress, though his 7,845 career receiving yards, 55 touchdowns and 15.5 yards per catch average surely make him tempting, didn’t play with the burst and vigor of Vick. He wasn’t known for bursting off the line and blowing past inferior defensive backs. He wasn’t a superior athlete—he was simply a jump-ball specialist who was able to stretch the field as a deep threat.

And while he was effective enough to be a Super Bowl hero with that ability, it's hardly enough to qualify him as a rare talent.

It took Vick a full season to get back to where he was. If Burress follows that curve, he’ll be 35 by the time he gets back to being an impact receiver—that’s one year older than Randy Moss is now and two years older than Chad Ochocinco, both considered over the hill.

Could Burress be a serviceable No. 2 in Tampa Bay? Certainly. And sure, they’d get him on the cheap.

But the Buccaneers are not a wide receiver away from a Super Bowl run. They’re a dynamic pass-rusher and an athletic linebacker away. It’s consistent safety play that’ll help open that door. It’s continuity on the offensive line that’ll help push them over that hump.

Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik didn’t turn the Buccaneers around in 2010 by chasing elder free agents and taking uncalculated risks. They did it by making savvy, educated decisions and by drafting with an incredible balance of value and need.

Plaxico Burress deserves a second chance, and he’s going to get it.

Just don’t expect the Buccaneers to pluck Plax from the jailhouse yard.