Jets All But Out On Plaxico: Report

Uncertain legal status closing door on opportunities

By JOSH ALPER

Updated 6:07 PM EST, Mon, Jun 29, 2009

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John Clayton of ESPN.com had a report on Plaxico Burress on Monday, and the news wasn't good for the erstwhile Giants wideout. The Bears have ruled out signing Burress and, per Clayton, the Jets are almost at the same point in their decision-making when it comes to Plax.

The reasons won't come as any surprise to anyone who has been following Burress' case. There's a chance he'll be indicted in July on charges resulting from the shooting incident last November that left him with a hole in his leg. Whether or not that happens, there's also a chance that he'll find himself suspended by Roger Goodell for violating the NFL's Player Conduct Policy.

Burress' agent Drew Rosenhaus is still banging the drum via Twitter, upping the number of interested teams to five and saying he expects the list to grow. Even if teams are interested, though, it seems unlikely that any will be pulling the trigger anytime soon. Goodell has both let the legal process play out and reserved the right to suspend Burress before a conviction, a dual course that has implicitly suspended Burress without explicitly saying that's the case.

That's not particularly fair. No one disputes any of the particulars of the case, not even Burress, so there's not much need to wait for the legal system to weigh in before issuing a league punishment. There's no correlation between the two, as evidenced by the legal slap on Browns receiver Donte' Stallworth's wrist and the league's harsher take on his DUI manslaughter plea. Suspending him now would do nothing other than allowing both the teams and Burress to move forward with an idea of what they're getting themselves into.

That's not Goodell's play, though. There probably isn't a change of course coming before the grand jury has considered the case and decided on an indictment. Training camp opens in a month, and the message here is that you shouldn't expect to see Burress at one.

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.