Plaxico Burress has the football family, then in his mind after nearly two years behind bars
June 6, 2011 | Entertainment | 0 CommentPlaxico Burress plans to play in the NFL again, but before the former star of the New York Giants want to spend time with his family, including a daughter who was born during the two years he spent in jail on a charge of firearms.
“I just want to thank God for bringing me through one of the most difficult moments in my life,” Burress said to reporters after being released from Oneida Correctional Facility in downtown New York on Monday morning. “It’s a beautiful day. It’s a beautiful day to be reunited with my family. I want to go home and spend some quality time with them.”
He hugged and shook hands with his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, before going into a black Range Rover and heading for the airport in Rome, New York. Burress, 34, is expected to take a flight back to Florida to spend time with his wife and two children.
“He has learned a lot,” Rosenhaus said. “He knows that obviously made a mistake. Losing two seasons in the NFL in the prime of his career. To not be with his family, the most important. To lose out on millions and millions of dollars. These are the things that forced him to evaluate his life definitely. ”
Nine months after making the winning catch with 35 seconds remaining in Super Bowl XLII, Burress was accidentally shot in the thigh with an unlicensed gun he had hidden in the waistband of his pants in a Manhattan nightclub. He pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon in August 2009 and was sentenced to two years in prison.
Now he is on probation for two years and need to find and maintain employment. His lawyer, Peter M. Frankel, Burress said plans to work pending the final of the NFL labor dispute.
“It will be a free agent,” Rosenhaus said. “There will be several teams interested in signing him. I hope to get a good contract. I hope that quite a play.”
Burress said: “As far as football is concerned, as long as everything is settled, when they return in the field, I’ll be ready.”
