A lot of Plaxico Burress rumors related to the St. Louis Rams seem to be ignoring one crucial fact: The St. Louis Rams don't really need Plaxico Burress. They need help at wide receiver, to say the least—their most dangerous wide receiver, Danario Alexander, is a 50/50 chance in a given week to be more a danger to himself than others. But Burress, 34 years old and two years removed from the NFL thanks to his handgun prowess, is no safe bet as the big-play threat the Rams need at this point in time, let alone as a player who fits into Steve Spagnuolo's ostensibly character-first system.
Burress escaped from our consciousness as a 31-year-old who was mostly as useful as ever, so it's easy to forget that he's only a year younger than, say, Torry Holt. He remains an imposing physical presence at wide receiver, but unless the Rams could get a bargain commensurate with the uncertainty surrounding both his character and his remaining football skills he simply makes no sense in a field full of aging head-case wide receivers with question marks. I'd take Terrell Owens first, and in a heartbeat.