Unless Plaxico Burress plea bargains and goes to jail in the next few weeks, he is available to be signed by any NFL team for the 2009 season. But there's no chance Goodell will let him play right away. And as long as no team indicates they want to sign him, Goodell is under no pressure to make a ruling. The Jets, Bears and Bucs at one point had interest, but all have backed off.
Presumably, any team interested in signing Burress will first call the commissioner's office to determine if he's going to suspend him. They have the right to know if he will be available before bringing him in. As of the middle of last week, Goodell had yet to meet with Burress and no team had called the league office to get a feel for what Goodell will do.
I've heard from sources that if any team wants to sign him, Goodell will suspend Burress for the first eight games of this season at a minimum, and potentially for the entire 2009 season. The law and order commissioner is not going to take it easy on Burress.
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