In a story first reported by the USA TODAY, Plaxico Burress said that he could have “a two- or three-touchdown game just coming off the couch.”
Well, now he might get that chance to prove it.
The former New York Giants and Jets wide receiver is on his way to meet with the team that drafted him, the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to a person informed of the veteran’s free-agent visit. The person, who spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because the Steelers haven’t confirmed the visit, said Burress will work out for the team on Tuesday.
Burress, 35, has been out of football since the Jets elected not to re-sign him following his 45-catch, eight-touchdown season in 2011. It was his first year back in the NFL since he accidentally shot himself in the thigh in November 2008, an event that helped ruin the Giants’ potential Super Bowl title defense and also resulted in a 20-month prison term for Burress.
The Jets declined to bring back Burress early this season after Santonio Holmes’ foot injury landed him on injured reserve. Jets coach Rex Ryan said the team was looking for a receiver with more speed and signed veteran Jason Hill, who had two catches in two games Weeks 5 and 6 but hasn’t dressed since. Hill also dropped what could’ve been Tim Tebow’s first touchdown pass of the season on a perfect deep ball against the Houston Texans.
Burress, who worked out for the New England Patriots in August but didn’t sign a contract, simply shrugged off Ryan’s comment about his speed and claimed it’s better than it was last season when he was just beginning to work himself back into football shape.
“It doesn’t bother me they didn’t pick up the phone and call me,” Burress told USA TODAY Sports back in October. “One thing’s for sure, I know I’m going to score some touchdowns. … You put me out there right now, and I go out there and dominate, have a couple of touchdowns or a hundred-yard game, then you just got to shake your head and smile and laugh.”
The Steelers aren’t smiling or laughing right now, not with quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Byron Leftwich sidelined with rib issues and with injury problems at receiver as well. Antonio Brown is still out with a high-ankle sprain suffered against the New York Giants two weeks ago and Jerricho Cotchery got hurt in Sunday night’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Burress, who was a first-round pick of the Steelers in 2000 but left Pittsburgh as a free agent following the 2004 season, met with the team last summer before signing with the Jets. It appears he’ll now finally return to the organization for whom he caught 261 passes and 22 touchdowns in five sometimes-controversial seasons.
