Burress, RGIII and McNabb
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Burress, RGIII and McNabb
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Plaxico Burress is at it again.
Last year, after he was released from prison, Burress made it clear that he'd enjoy playing with Michael Vick as a member of the Eagles.
He ended up signing a one-year deal with the Jets and is now once again a free agent. Joining Harry Mayes and Brian Baldinger on 97.5 The Fanatic Monday afternoon, he again expressed interest in coming to Philadelphia.
But would he be a good fit?
Before last year, I was of the opinion that signing Burress made little sense for the Eagles, considering he was 34 and hadn't played in an NFL game since 2008. But despite limited practice time, Burress posted respectable numbers in his return - 45 catches for 612 yards and eight touchdowns.
Most importantly, seven of those eight touchdowns came in the red zone. Burress had 10 catches in the red zone, tied for sixth-most among wide receivers. The Eagles finished 14th in red-zone offense, converting touchdowns 51.52 percent of the time.
The Jets kept Burress on the field quite a bit too. He played 78.8 percent of the team's offensive snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.
It'd be tough to figure out a way to get Burress on the field that much with the Eagles, assuming DeSean Jackson is still here. If Jackson is gone, the Eagles need to do better than Burress to replace him.
With Jackson, Jeremy Maclin and Jason Avant healthy, Burress could be used as a fourth wide receiver over Riley Cooper. But four-receiver sets mean either Brent Celek or LeSean McCoy is coming off the field. The Eagles could also possibly experiment with Maclin in the slot (although he hasn't been used in that role much) and use Burress in three-receiver sets, taking Avant off the field.
In the red zone, Burress could replace Jackson, but even with all those things, we're not talking about nearly as many snaps as he played last year. He would add depth and could be a spot starter for Jackson or Maclin. If that's a role Burress would be happy with, and if his asking price is reasonable, I'd consider adding him if I were the Eagles. But he may be able to find an expanded role elsewhere.
MYSTERY TEAM FOR RGIII?
The Robert Griffin III rumors will fly for the next two months leading up to April's draft. In this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, Peter King writes that Cleveland, Washington and Miami are the most likely suitors, but a source tells him that a team "you would never expect" has already put a feeler in to the Rams.
Meanwhile, per Evan Silva of Rotoworld.com, Greg Cosell of NFL Films described Griffin as a "more physically talented version of [Donovan] McNabb."
MCNABB NOT RETIRING...YET
Speaking of McNabb, while he failed to catch on with another team after being released by the Vikings last season, he says he is still preparing to play in the league next season.
"Well you know what man, right now I still have my mind on focused on football," McNabb told KILT in Houston. "All I have been doing is just working out and just staying abreast with things. I have been doing some TV stuff in the meantime just to polish that up for future endeavors that I may step into when I am done, but the most important thing for me is to just stay involved and continue to perfect my craft and get better and better as I continue on."
McNabb also said questions about his work ethic in the past couple years were "garbage." Click here for the full radio transcript of the McNabb interview on SportsRadioInterviews.com.
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I'd be into having McNabb fight for the third-string QB spot.— Leegles- Let me guess, you also want Eric Lindros to return to the Flyers. — Planet of the lacking analytical skills
Comment removed.- nice try Donovan. shouldnt you be out throwing passes or terrorizing earthworms or something? — bloodymess
- HA HA HA Donnie McNabb--you're not fooling anybody by useing --James as a post WHAT A JOKE! — jwatson
- That's Donovan's brother posing with the "James". — Planet of the lacking analytical skills
- The only positive sign I would derive from the signing of Plax is that Reid is desperate and truly on the hot seat this year...which is several years too late.— THE-KID (WI)
- Take every HOF player at every position except QB and this team still won’t win SB with MV at the helm!
Lose the player – gain the ring!
— With all this talent who needs a real defensive coordinator 2011 - McNAbb is a great guy and a leader...... lmfao.... while he never had any off field issues (which I respect) he was the worst team mate a player could have. At every opportunity I heard him attempt to blame every other person on the roster for losses in big spots. His kool-aid drinkers blamed his lack of weapons, his defense, and his coaches. (Maybe the coach does deserves some more of the blame)I never once heard him step up in a post game press conference and accept the responsibility for his own failings. That is what a leader does. I never once heard him step up to the mic and say his defense played a great game and without them he wouldn't have even had a chance to stay in the game. He played for a decade with the Eagles, and during that decade he had the leagues best defense. He had a number one ranked defense in his conference 3 seperate times. No QB has had that for any team and was not able to win a Super Bowl as far back as I have been able to research. Even Trent Dilfer won the Super Bowl on his third attempt with a number one ranked Defense and that team had no offensive weapons either. McNabb was not a terrible QB. He was also not a whole lot better than average. He was slightly better than mediocre but happened to have the best defense of his era. I wouldnt let him or his fragile psyche anywhere near any of my young QB's.— hubbs_in_frisco
- Top 5 HOF McNabb happenings for the Eagles--1/Running away from TO on the sidelines like a sissy, 2/pretending to be OCHO CHOCO MOCKO in Giants game by using a phone off the bench during play stoppage, 3/Turning from BOZO the CLOWN to EMMITT the SAD FACED CLOWN on Baltimore sideline after being janked from the game, 4/the famous AIR GUITAR playing in the DALLAS runway, & 5/ throwing up-up chucking-pukeing-splattering the beans all over his teammates in the huddle during the SB. — jwatson
- I'll take a flyer on Plax. Football is a man's game. RedZone Football is a real man's game. We have: DeSean "plays like a girl" Jackson, Reilly "hair like a girl" Cooper, Brent "sounds like a girl" Celek, and Jason "makes excuses like a girl" Avant.— dragoon6
Plax's 8 receiving TDs would have led the Eagles receivers by a longshot. Maclin and Celek each led the team with 5 receiving TDs. I'd like him as a #3 target.- Well, well, well! Donowhine McFlabb is back in the news. I already read about how he is whining for another QB spot on Fox Sports. He is DONE! I don't care about him or what he's tlaking about at this point. When he stopped being a 'running QB, his skills were G-O-N-E! No defense was scared of him anymore. He could've been a way better Mike Vick but he chose to listen to his critics and tried to be a pocket-passer. FORGET THAT! You excelled at being a running QB, STAY a running QB! He should've learned that from The Mike Vick Experience!
As for Plaxico, I'd take him for a year at the minimum. I'll bet the Eagles wouldn't have to worry about their redzone woes anymore.— Panthro2011 - Celek and Plex are about the same size 6'5", Celek is 6'4" and heavier at 255 Lbs.
There is no reason in my mind why Celek should not have been the primary Red Zone threat other than him dropping the ball often.
— Dexter
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