NEW YORK – Sycophants have Plaxico Burress' back, no matter where he turns. It's as if he has transported a gang of 300-pound offensive linemen, stuffed them in power suits, swapped their playbooks for legal briefs and mesmerized them with his shiny Super Bowl ring.
That some of these wannabe teammates draw paychecks from the Manhattan District Attorney's office is hardly surprising. Burress was, after all, on the receiving end of one of the greatest touchdowns in New York Giants' history. His fans are omnipotent, to the point where there have been serious internal disagreements within the DA's office over how to handle the criminal charges pending against the wide receiver, prompting NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to explore punishing Burress even while the case against him meanders along.
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Excluding Brett Favre, which remaining free agent can play the biggest role in 2009?
The easy answer (INCLUDING Brett Favre!!) is Plaxico Burress. He's a high-ceiling, high-impact wide receiver. You saw the way the Giants' offense missed him at the end of 2008, and we've seen a handful of teams express interest in him -- even though nobody knows if he's going to play in 2009. If he is allowed to play, he's your answer. But it looks increasingly likely that he'll be suspended for at least part of the season, if not all. So in the non-Burress division, I have three veterans who could make an interesting impact in the right situation:
While there is speculation of Michael Vick eventually becoming a Dolphin, Yahoo! Sports' Jason Cole has a pretty firm story that says Vick won't be playing in the NFL anytime soon. Cole also says that wide receiver Plaxico Burress is facing an indefinite suspension as well, which would put a giant bucket of cold water on any hopes he has of landing a solid free agent deal.
Cole cites three sources with knowledge of the situation. According to them, commissioner Roger Goodell will continue to throw his weight around when it comes to suspensions. He's already slapped wide receiver Donte Stallworth with an indefinite suspension after Stallworth pled guilty to DUI manslaughter. One of Cole's sources says its likely that Vick will be suspended for the entire 2009 season as well, which would mean he would be out of football for three seasons, making any return even tougher in 2010.
While no Kurt Warner, I consider myself to be a morally upstanding citizen. I give up my seat on the subway to the elderly (as well as shoot an annoyed look to the teenagers who do not), refrain from unnecessarily yelling fire in a crowded movie theater, and always take the side that steroid users like Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa have no place in the Hall of Fame. When it comes to fantasy football though, my competitive nature tends to go into overdrive.
In more occasions than I would like to admit I become as desperate as Nick Nolte in the first act of Blue Chips, kick the soapbox to the curve and go all out signing every player with character issues that I can find to help me win. To prevent future me from some deep soul-searching sessions, I have traversed the murky terrain of morally dubious players and separated the individuals that I am allowing myself to own this season from those that will be off-limits.
There's a lot of information about Plaxico Burress rumbling around Twitter this evening. As is so often the case in Twitterville, there are some shades of gray regarding how much of it is true and/or meaningful.
What is true is that commissioner Roger Goodell has initiated a review of Burress' self-shooting incident under the NFL's personal conduct policy. This information came courtesy of the Twitter account of Brian McCarthy (NFLprguy) at the league office, and it came about 35 minutes or so after Burress' agent, Drew Rosenhaus (RosenhausSports), tweeted that "There are now 5 teams interested in Plaxico. I expect more teams to enter the mix over the next few weeks as well."
The question is to what extent the Goodell news impacts the Rosenhaus spin.
Plaxico Burress might be able to find a new NFL team without having to find a new home -- and without having to hop on a plane for his next court date -- as New York Jets owner Woody Johnson has confirmed interest in the former New York Giants receiver.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The most exciting thing that happened at New York Giants minicamp Wednesday was a press conference to announce Timex as the naming-rights sponsor for the team's new training facility here -- the "Timex Performance Center." It's a beautiful complex, but unless you're the ones pocketing $35 million from the deal over the next 15 years, this wasn't exactly the stuff of big headlines.
That's fine with the Giants, who got their fill of headlines at last year's minicamp.
Coming off a Super Bowl championship, the Giants convened last year amid loud, obnoxious Jeremy Shockey and Plaxico Burress contract controversies. Neither of those players was on the team by year's end, but they were here a year ago, and they were making it noisy. This year ... not so much. And Tom Coughlin couldn't be happier about it.
It's pretty well established that Plaxico Burress is a pain in the ass to deal with. The Giants were willing to put up with it until Plax accidentally blew a hole in his thigh at a Manhattan night club last November (when, ironically, he was supposed to be rehabbing a tweaked hammy).
The team released him earlier this year and now Burress, while awaiting his legal fate, is lobbying other teams for a job. In most other professions, guys who shoot themselves -- intentionally or otherwise -- are automatically ruled out as potential employees. It's a sensible rule and one no reasonable person would question.
Plaxico Burress' immediate future remains uncertain -- there's still a decent chance he spends some time in the clink -- but this much is clear: the Giants have moved on. They released Plax in early April, and then used two of their first four draft picks on wide receivers at the end of the month. The Giants selected Hakeem Nicks 29th overall, and took Ramses Barden two rounds later.
Both are big receivers -- Nicks, 6-1, 215, has been compared to Anquan Boldin; Barden, 6-6, 226, is more physically similar to Burress -- but rookie wideouts are notoriously slow to transition to the NFL, sometimes taking two or three years to get acclimated. There are exceptions -- Dwayne Bowe and Marques Colston come to mind -- but I don't think the Giants are expecting Pro Bowl-type performances from Nicks or Barden next season.
We're two months from training camps, a time when most NFL teams are done with free agency (at least the big-name signings, primarily because most of those guys have jobs) and have transitioned to evaluating players currently on their rosters. Not the Bucs. They're still looking for wideouts.
NEW YORK – Sycophants have Plaxico Burress' back, no matter where he turns. It's as if he has transported a gang of 300-pound offensive linemen, stuffed them in power suits, swapped their playbooks for legal briefs and mesmerized them with his shiny Super Bowl ring.
Send your NFL questions (along with your name and location) to 
While there is speculation of 
There's a lot of information about 
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The most exciting thing that happened at 
It's pretty well established that 
Plaxico Burress
A quick recap of the Buccaneers' offseason: 
