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This off-season the New York Giants signed
wide receiver Plaxico Burress to a six year $25 million dollar contract.
Adding a receiver for Eli Manning was a top priority after Amani Toomer
and Ike Hilliard failed to catch a single touchdown pass in 2004.
Plaxico Burress, who is 6-5 and 226 pounds, was the eighth overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft.
He has 262 receptions
and has scored 22 touchdowns during his five year career. This is
exactly what the Giants needed, right? Wrong. I believe that Plaxico
Burress is overrated and at best he’s a 3rd or 4th fantasy receiver even
though he’s the new number one in New York. Here’s why.
The New York Giants gave Plaxico Burress
an $8 million dollar signing bonus. When players get new contracts
I’m a little skeptical of how much they will produce the following
season unless they are the type of player who give their all each
and every week. Well, if you have followed Plaxico’s career then you
know that he not only seems to take games off, but it appears to me that he
takes seasons off.
He was a no show at the voluntary workouts last
season and he threatened to hold out if he didn’t get a new contract. I
couldn’t believe Plaxico demanded a new contract after the sub par
performance he had in 2003. After having a career high 1,325 yards
receiving and 7 touchdowns in 2002 his numbers took a big drop to 860
yards and 4 touchdowns in 2003. Last season he missed four games due to
injuries and finished the season with 35 receptions for 698 yards, and 5
touchdowns. The receptions and yardage were the worst numbers he’s put
up since his rookie year. There’s a guy named Hines Ward whose numbers
are much better then Plaxico’s yet Ward wasn’t fussing about money even
though he had the right to. The Steelers did the right thing by
letting Burress go.
The Giants have one of the worst offensive
lines in the game and they don’t even have a first round pick in 2005 to
address the problem due to the trade with San Diego for Eli Manning. Burress is a
home run hitter but if the offensive line can’t protect Eli Manning fpr more
than 2 seconds Burress will be useless.
One of the best things about fantasy
football is that the numbers don’t lie. Plaxico’s numbers have dropped
the last two years and that’s with a great wide receiver opposite him to
keep him from facing constant double teams. Plaxico has had two
seasons where he has gained over 1,000 yards receiving. He did it in 2001
and 2002. The last two seasons he has failed to reach 900 yards
receiving.
How about his touchdown receptions you
ask? Plaxico’s career high in touchdowns is 7 and that was back in 2002. The last two years
he has caught a total of 9 touchdowns. As the beautiful and sexy Shania
Twain says, “ That don’t impress me much".
The Giants desperately needed a playmaking
receiver but out of the available receivers (Mushin Muhammad, Derrick
Mason and Plaxico Burress) the Giants chose the wrong receiver to give
$8 million dollars to. On draft day don’t go jumping for Plaxico
Burress because he has serious bust potential written all over him
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