The recent injury to Chicago Bears rookie wide receiver Alshon Jeffery has sparked a flurry of speculations regarding the team’s possible interest in veteran free agent wide receiver Plaxico Burress. While most of these speculations were spurred on by comments made by Burress himself, the prospect of Plaxico joining the Bears is an intriguing one nonetheless.
The Chicago Bears have not had a player catch more than five touchdown passes in a season since their Super Bowl run in 2006. In 2011, when most thought Plaxico Burress was well past the prime of his career, he caught eight touchdown passes. Some would argue that the addition of Brandon Marshall solved these issues for the Chicago Bears offense, and while Marshall has undoubtedly improved the Bears passing game, if the Bears have no second threat in the red zone (in the absence of Alshon Jeffery) than Marshall will face too many double and triple teams to be effective. Burress would provide this complementary red zone threat being that the red zone is where Plaxico Burress thrived in 2011 with the New York Jets.
Chicago Bears GM Phil Emery said that he is satisfied with the group of receivers currently on the Bears roster, but it’s hard to deny how the presence of Plaxico Burress would enhance the Bears offense, specifically in the red zone. The signing of Burress is a risk no doubt, but the question is, how much would it cost the Bears to bring him in? At this point, the fact that Burress has not found a team yet would point to the fact that he is looking for more money than the Bears would be willing to pay him. The Bears will have to weigh the benefits of Burress’ potential production with the possibly lofty price of signing him.
At this point it does not look like the Chicago Bears will sign Plaxico Burress anytime soon, but this does not mean things can’t change. It is clear that Burress is desperate to play in the NFL again and the Bears could use someone with his skill set, so there is no telling what could happen.