Earlier this morning we heard our first rumblings from within the Eagles that they might have some interest in Plaxico Burress when free agency happens.
At a recent Eagles playground build, Jeff Lurie was asked about his thoughts on possibly bringing in Plaxico Burress. He said that they evaluate all players on the market and that if they considered signing Burress, the process would be similar to the one they went through with Michael Vick.
"It would be similar," Lurie said. "Any player, if there's issues off the field, we have to ascertain . . . are they going to represent the Eagles and the community that we serve? Are they going to be part of events like this? Michael has shown this. If a player is not willing to be part of the culture we have, then I don't think it's a good fit."
"You can evaluate his talent. You can evaluate his age. But you can't evaluate where his heart and his head are at the moment," Lurie said. "Until you can do that . . . it's far from enough information."
Lurie continued, "We've shown we'll take chances if it's warranted."
While it is important to decide whether he'll be productive and whether he'll fit on the team, the Eagles won't have to deal with the level of criticism in signing Burress as they did with Vick. There's no doubt that Burress accidentally shooting himself in the leg was an irresponsible and stupid act, but people will likely find that much easier to forgive than all the heinous things that Michael Vick did.