Ex-Super Bowl Champ, Who Spent Almost Two Years in Prison, Compared It to Playing for the Jets

Former Jets player Plaxico Burress made a startling statement about the organization after getting released from prison. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

One-time Super Bowl champ Plaxico Burress did his time—both on and off the field.

Back in 2009, Burress was sentenced to two years in prison for violating New York’s gun laws and pled guilty to a firearms charge that stemmed from an incident in which Burress inadvertently shot himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub.

Fast forward nearly two decades later, and Burress claims that his experience behind bars was similar to playing with the Jets for one season in 2011 after he was released from prison.

Burress was asked during a recent appearance on Lil Wayne and Craig Carton’sThe Joint Venture Show whether spending time in prison or on the Jets was worse.

“So, they’re both kind of similar because when I walked into prison my first day, I was like, ‘Damn man you a f---ing loser,” Burress said, eliciting lots of laughs. “And I had the same damn feeling every day I walked through the door with the Jets. I was like, ‘Damn I hope we can win this weekend.’ Loser!”

Plaxico Burress compared playing with the Jets to prison:

"They're both kind of similar because when I walked into prison on my first day, I was like, 'damn man you a fucking loser.' And I had the same damn feeling every day I walked through the door with the Jets." pic.twitter.com/yUfTFvytGI

— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) July 28, 2026

Ooof. Talk about shots being fired.

Who is Plaxico Burress, the former Jets player who served in prison?

Burress split his time playing as a wide receiver for the Steelers and Giants over the first nine years of his NFL career, winning his lone Super Bowl with New York in 2007, before he was sentenced to prison.

As a high-profile inmate, Burress was placed in a protective custody unit in upstate New York. He was released three months early in June 2011 for good behavior. Having reportedly stayed in excellent physical shape during his time in prison, Burress was immediately eager to make his pro football comeback.

Burress, who had racked up four 1,000-yard receiving campaigns during his first NFL stint from 2000 to ‘08, ended up staying nearby where he served his time and signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Jets roughly two months following his prison release.

“It's emotional because I had some long days and some long nights, and you dream about that day, getting back to what you love,” Burress said of joining the Jets, via ESPN. “That time has come.”

Burress apparently met with then-Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum and owner Woody Johnson in 2009, when he was facing a a tenuous legal situation and a possible prison sentence. That meeting left a strong impression on the veteran wideout, who had nothing but good things to say about the Jets organization at the time.

“It really meant a lot to me and my family, especially with all the events we had going on at that time,” Burress said. “For [Tannenbaum and Johnson] to be there at that time, it really said a lot about them. I was really humbled by it ... To be able to come here and play for them, somebody who supported me through thick and just not thin, it meant a lot to me. I hope I can come here, play great and win a championship.”

Though the Jets were the ones who gave Burress a second chance to revive his NFL career, he clearly doesn’t think fondly of his time with the franchise. In his sole season with the Jets under coach Rex Ryan, Burress recorded 612 yards and eight touchdowns across 16 games; the Jets finished 8-8 that year, good for second in the AFC East, and missed the playoffs.

The Jets opted against bringing Burress back, and he fittingly ended his NFL career on the Steelers, the team that originally drafted him.

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