When the Giants signed Plaxico Burress to a contract extension just before the season, they gave him a $4.25 million extension as part of the package. That money was to be paid out in installments, including a $1 million payment due on Wednesday. The Giants didn't pay it, according to the NFL Players' Association, presumably as a result of Burress' wounded thigh.
"The Giants have decided to forgo payment of his signing bonus," NFLPA spokesman Carl Francis said in an e-mail sent to Mike Garofalo of the Newark Star-Ledger. "Therefore, we will file a claim in the appropriate forum to enforce his rights to receive and keep the monies entitled to him under his player contract."
The Giants have every right to suspend Burress, but they should pay him his money. The team chose to take him off the field, whatever the reason, and Burress hasn't, contractually speaking, defaulted on his obligations to the Giants. If he were in jail or if the league suspended him it would be a different situation, but, for now, Burress has a right to the monies owed him.
He probably won't have that right come 2009, however. The Giants are sending the clearest indication yet that Burress will never play another game in their uniform. When they do sever ties to Burress, it would be very difficult for them to get back money they've already paid. If someone rules that they absolutely have to pay out the $1 million, so be it, but they'll force Burress to get it from them. You don't start fights like that unless you have no desire whatsoever to continue your working relationship.
