Former Giants receiver Plaxico Burress strolled out of jail Monday wearing a Philadelphia Phillies cap and a big smile after 20 months behind bars on gun charges."It's a beautiful day," Burress said as he left the medium-security Oneida Correctional Facility in upstate Rome. "It's a beautiful day to be reunited with my family. I want to go home and spend some quality time with them."
Wearing shades, Burress thanked God and "all my fans all around the world for the thousands of letters, for their unwavering support."
Asked about a possible return to pro football, Burress answered, "If and when everything gets settled, when they get back on the field, I'll be ready."
Then Burress climbed into a black Range Rover and headed for a nearby casino to meet his wife, Tiffany, his son, Elijah, and a daughter, Giovanna, who was born while he was behind bars. They were expected to board a flight to his home outside Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. by 11 a.m.
"To miss two NFL seasons in the prime of your career, to not be with your family, most importantly, to lose out on millions and millions of dollars - these are things that have forced him certainly to evaluate his life," his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said.
Burress, 33, spent a lot of time running and doing strength exercise with an eye to returning to the NFL while doing time for a gun charge, Rosenhaus said.
"There are going to be multiple teams interested in signing him," Rosenhaus said. "I expect him to get a good contract. I expect him to absolutely be playing."
While Burress' best friends on the Giants, tailback Brandon Jacobs, said the team doesn't appear to be interested in the 6-foot-5 receiver, Rosenhaus did not nix a return to New York.
"I wouldn't rule out the Giants, I wouldn't rule out any club," he said.
Rosenhaus did not name any other teams that might be interested. But one of them is expected to be Giants' rival Philadelphia Eagles, which could explain why Burress was wearing a Phillies cap.
Any return to the gridiron depends on the resolution of the ongoing NFL labor dispute.
Burress derailed his own career just nine months after he who caught a 13-yard pass from Eli Manning that lifted the Giants to a shocking 17-14 upset victory over the heavily favored New England Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl
While partying at a Manhattan night club called the Latin Quarter, Burress accidentally shot himself in the thigh with an unlicensed Glock and then high-tailed it to the emergency room of- New YorkPresbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
An outraged Mayor Bloomberg called on the court to throw the book at Burress and ripped the hospital for failing to report the shooting as required by law.
Burress agreed to a plea deal to lesser firearms charges and was sentenced to two years in prison. He was released three months and four days early for good behavior despite three minor disciplinary infractions for things like violating rules and abusing phone priviledges.
When Burress wasn't working out, he was mopping linoleum floors and mowing lawns at the prison some 250 miles north of New York City - and his past football glory.
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