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Michael Vick showed last year that time away from football doesn’t mean that your career can’t get back on track. Vick was better than ever last year and arguable the most dynamic player in the league.
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While they have prison in common, there are some differences. Vick was 30 last year while Plaxico will turn 34 later this month (8/12). In the real world four years isn’t much of a difference, but in football years that is about the average career length of an NFL player. Of course Vick and Plax aren’t average NFL players, but one would have to think to being four years younger gave Vick an advantage. Both in terms of speed and recovery.
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Plaxico will have a similar disadvantage by not getting a lot of reps to work away the rust. Vick wasn’t running with the first team before either of the previous two seasons and Plaxico will have a shortened offseason thanks to the strike. All of the players will be dealing with that so it won’t be as pronounced. Plus, he’ll probably be running with the first team before long, and being a veteran will be able to catch on faster than a newcomer.
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One of the things that Vick seemed to lose in the first year, but regained and then some last year was his speed and quickness. Plaxico’s game isn’t built on speed though. His strength, which is his 6’5″ frame, can’t be taken away from him. Even if it takes him so time to get his legs under him he will still be a threat in the red zone.
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The main issue I have with Plax is that his team isn’t oriented to pass the ball frequently.  Their focus is first on their defense and second on their running game. When the do pass the ball, Santonio Holmes will be the first option. Mark Sanchez is a good, winning quarterback, but isn’t likely to produce an outstanding fantasy season.
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It’s all a matter of when you can get him. Currently his MockDraftCentral ADP doesn’t have him listed and Yahoo! has him in the top 50. If you can get him as your WR4 then it’s probably worth the risk. I don’t know if I would roll the dice on him as a WR3 unless that meant I somewhat ignored the position and focused on getting a solid QB/RB/TE situation.
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What’s your take on Plaxico Burress in 2011?
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Also check out:

• 2011 Fantasy Football QB Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy Football RB Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy Football WR Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy Football TE Rankings

Former New York Giants MVP and Super Bowl hero Plaxico Burress pleaded guilty to felony weapons charges.  I am for tougher gun control to keep hands out of criminals, but I’m sorry, this wasn’t it.  There was no criminal intent involved.  It just seems like Plax was being used as an example by an overzealous District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. 

It was a reckless decision, as well as a stupid one, but not a criminal one.  Had he brandished the gun trying to intimidate someone or look cool, I would have a different take.  He shot himself and he gets a sentene 20 to 24 times longer than Donte Stallworth’s.  That is silly to me. 

What do you think?  Did the punishment fit the crime?

Yahoo Sports is reporting that the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants are in negotiations on a possible trade that would send Braylon Edwards to the G-Men.  It is no secret that the Giants want to improve their receiving corps, and adding a big target like Edwards could fill the void created when Plaxico Burress reenacted the Gunfight at the OK Corral in his sweat pants.  If he stays or if he goes, Braylon is a bounceback candidate.  He is bound to get better QB play, and if he has any pride he will work on his craft this offseason.

Rotoworld is reporting that there is a strong possibility Tony Gonzalez will be dealt to Atlanta.  Kansas City is in full rebuilding mode and a deal could  net them the Falcons’ 55th overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.  Some experts have Brandon Pettigrew targeted as the Falcons 24th overall pick.  If a deal is made for Gonzo, Atlanta could focus on their defensive backfield, which perhaps is a bigger area of need.  Gonzo’s value would diminish if this trade went down.  He was the #1 option in Kansas City.  Roddy White holds that title for the Falcons.  Michael Jenkins could lose a few looks.  Matt Ryan would likely jump into the top ten, if not higher, in QB rankings with all of those weapons.  Michael Turner would lose some a few looks at the stripe. 

Images courtesy of Icon SMI

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI

The Giants have parted ways with their star Wide Receiver Plaxico Burress.  Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock you know the circumstances.  Plaxico faces gun charges following an incident where he shot himself in the leg at a NYC club.
 
Prior to the incident Plax really only got in trouble for showing up late for meetings and such. He faces over three years if convicted, but his case got bumped back to June.  He’ll likely work out some sort of plea arrangement.  Once the legal matters get sorted out, Plax will get a call from Roger Goodell’s office and find out how long his NFL punishment is going to be. 

The Giants decided that they didn’t need that distraction.  Plaxico had a decent run with Giants catching 244 passes for 3681 yards and 33 TDs.  He was particularly impressive in the 2007 campaign as various injuries kept him from practicing, yet he produced a career high 12 TD receptions.  He was instrumental in ruining the New England Patriots’ perfect season by catching the game-winning pass.

Plax will turn 32 this summer.  If he avoids jail time, he still will have some fantasy value depending, of course, on the length of his suspension.  If he is forced to go to prison for even a year, you can almost say goodbye to his fantasy relevance.  He’d be 33, facing a suspension, and in search of a new team.  Stay tuned to see how this plays out.

My good pal and Giant fanatic Joe Z. was kind enough to analyze the offseason plans for the New York Giants.

“Most wondered at the time of the Plaxico Burress shooting whether or not the New York Giants would be able to focus and block out the immense distraction that the situation provided.  In hindsight, the immense media scrutiny paled in comparison to actual loss of Burress on the field.   Not only did Eli Manning lose his top target, but defenses were able to play an extra defender up in the box to target to stop the run game.   With Burress’s future being cloudy at best, coming up with a way to ease the pressure on the run game, as well as allow Steve Smith and Domenick Hixon to be secondary receivers should be the Giants primary offseason goal.   

The first person to potentially fill the gap is Burress himself.  While its uncertain whether or not he’ll face jail time or how long a potential suspension would be, the Giants have publicly stated that they have not yet closed the door on him.  While he has been a distraction in the past, many teammates have said that they would welcome him back.  This would not cost anything additional other than already reserved cap space, and might be the easiest option for the Giants going forward.  This was assuming that Burress would come back to the Giants on his hands and knees begging forgiveness, which given how he let his teammates down would have seemed to be the logical emotion.  However, a potential roadblock popped up in the form of Drew Rosenhaus and how he sent out a league wide email stating Plaxico was one of his clients desiring a trade.   If clarity comes with his legal situation and its certain that he’ll be playing in Week 1, I still can’t see a team being willing to give the Giants enough that they’d want to give him up.   

If the Giants determine that they have to move on, the only rumored names that could truly represent an upgrade for the Giants are Anquan Boldin and TJ Houshmanzadeh; and neither will be easy to acquire.  All rumors of Boldin’s availability have come out of Boldin’s camp, not from Arizona.  As much as Boldin wants out, he is signed at a bargain price for Arizona, and it would take a bounty to acquire him.  Given his production and bargain cap number, Arizona might not decide to trade Boldin until after the Giants need to make a decision on their offseason intentions. 

The free agent market only offers one receiver that could potentially provide number one receiver production.  TJ Houshmanzadeh is the anti-Burress in terms of attitude and distractions, but even if he were interested in leaving, he seems to be a candidate to be franchised by Cincinnati since they are under the cap and probably won’t be able to attract many marquee free agents until they start winning. 

Its very rare to draft a receiver and receive number one production.  It will be even rarer to get that receiver at the back end of the first round after Michael Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin are long gone. 

Before they resolve the number one receiver situation, its likely that the Giants will have locked up the services of Brandon Jacobs to a long term deal.  Last week, they franchised Jacobs, a move so rare for the Giants that you have to look all the way back to Jumbo Elliot to find the last time they did that.  The Giants want Jacobs back, and Jacobs wants to be back, so it would be surprising if they can’t find the middle ground on a long term deal.  Given that, it likely means that Derrick Ward will move on to another destination.  While the Giants loved having Ward, someone will likely offer a starting spot and more dollars than the Giants can, given that they have in house candidates to replace him.  Most fans would logically think Ahmad Bradshaw will be the guy, but reports are that the Giants are very high on Danny Ware, so an interesting battle for that lead backup job could develop in training camp. 

The Giants also appear to be close to locking up Eli Manning to a long term deal.  The structuring of his bonus will be a key factor in whether or not they end up with the ability to pursue any free agents beyond Brandon Jacobs.  Giants fans have watched Eli go through some significant bumps in the road, and he’ll never be as good as his brother, but Eli has proven to be a top ten quarterback and many teams would kill to have the stability at the Quarterback position that Eli provides the Giants.   

The offensive line received praise throughout the season and looks to return in tact next season.  Depending on how the Giants internally evaluate the long term future of young linemen such as Kevin Boothe, Guy Whimper, and Adam Koets will determine whether the team pursues a linemen or two to develop and take over eventually for Shaun O’ Hara, Rich Seubert, or Kareem McKenzie as they each now have eight plus years in the league.   

Defensively, the Giants will receive a huge upgrade when Osi Umenyiora returns to his place in the lineup.  While Mathias Kiwanuka did a nice job moving back to replace Umenyiora, the dropoff was noticeable.  The defensive stats don’t show any true problems, but at no time was the pass rush anywhere near the level that it had been when Strahan, Tuck, and Umenyiora were harassing Quarterbacks.  Fred Robbins had a Pro Bowl quality year, but getting Osi back will be wonderous for this team.  

The secondary also will return in tact minus James Butler.  2008 1^st round pick Kenny Phillips proved to be ready to replace Butler going forward.  Corey Webster in his fifth year will be elder statesmen of the starting secondary, so there is nowhere to go but up for that unit.   Any drafting to the defensive line or secondary will be done solely because the person picked provided too much value to pass up at the position they were selected.  

The Giants do have major concerns at linebacker.  They spent the entire year with below average starters on the outside, and by the end of the year Antonio Pierce had become a liability in the middle.  The Giants face a difficult decision with Pierce , as he is clearly the Quarterback of the defense and probably can’t be replaced intelligence wise in one year.  However, the sight of Brian Westbrook, DeAngelo Williams, and Adrian Peterson flying past Pierce has to haunt every Giant fan as they reminisce back to 2008.  Luckily, the draft and free agent class are deep at linebacker, so the Giants should have opportunities to upgrade.  Throw in the fact that Kiwanuka could conceivably return back to the linebacking corps and the team should have no trouble getting the unit back up to par.  One angle to watch would be whether the Giants are able to clear the cap space after the Jacobs and Manning signings to pursue Karlos Dansby out of Arizona.  Ohio State’s James Laurinaitis or USC’s Clay Matthews could be targets for the team with their first round pick.   

Knowing that Wide Receiver and Linebacker are the two areas of need for the Giants, its important to note that they have extra 2^nd and 5^th round picks from the Jeremy Shockey trade.  This depth could allow the Giants to trade up in the draft, or to potentially package some picks to a cap starved team to help fill needs.   

Overall, General Manager Jerry Reese fit a home run with his first draft in 2007.  However, he has not yet acquired a marquee player via free agency nor trade in his tenure, and this is the offseason where his creativity to do so is needed and up for judgment.”

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