Steelers talk to Burress, but nothing signed

Associated Press

pittsburgh

Plaxico Burress shook hands. He bro-hugged. He talked. He listened. He watched. He hung out. He paced.

The one thing the free agent wide receiver didn’t do on Saturday while visiting the Pittsburgh Steelers is sign a contract.

Instead Burress hopped into an awaiting limo just as the team began afternoon practice at Saint Vincent University following a lengthy visit in which he met with owner Art Rooney, director of football operations Kevin Colbert and coach Mike Tomlin — when he wasn’t catching up with old teammates.

Tomlin called the sit-down “good” while the normally tight-lipped Colbert was decidedly open when talking about the nature of the discussion.

“Obviously he’s interested,” Colbert said. “Drew [Rosenhaus] his agent is interested and we’re certainly interested.”

Consider quarterback Ben Roethlisberger chief among those hoping to land the soon-to-be 34-year-old. He spoke to Burress several times following Burress’ release from prison in June after serving 20 months on a gun charge.

Though the defending AFC champions aren’t exactly hurting at wide receiver with veteran Hines Ward, budding star Mike Wallace and youngsters Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders, Burress would give the passing game an added dimension. For all their speed, Ward and company — all 6-feet and under — can’t look the 6-foot-5 Roethlisberger in the eye. Burress, also 6-5, can.

“For this offense we’ve got a lot of weapons, a lot of tools [but] anytime you can just add something, say it’s a [fast] guy, a tall guy ... he can help the young guys and I think that’s good,” Roethlisberger said.

The day with the Steelers came a day after Burress spent 90 minutes talking with New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin. Burress caught the game-winning touchdown in the team’s upset of the unbeaten New England Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl, before his career derailed after he accidentally shot himself in a New York nightclub in 2009.

Coughlin said he wanted to see “sincerity” from Burress during their meeting. The Steelers certainly felt as if they received it from the player they took eighth overall in the 2000 NFL Draft.

Burress spent five seasons in Pittsburgh, catching 35 passes for 698 yards and five touchdowns in his final year with the team in 2004 as it slowly broke in Roethlisberger, a rookie at the time. Burress moved on to New York, where he thrived catching balls from Eli Manning but often ran into trouble with Coughlin.