New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin will love to read this. Running back Brandon Jacobs today told ESPN that there is "no question" he would love to have Plaxico Burress back in a Giants' uniform.
"If Plax comes back, that puts us back at the top of the league, ASAP, no question.
"He's a dominating wideout and we have a great running game, we have Hakeem Nicks. ... I think it's great if we can add Plax and make things happen. Actually I think we can kill people in the National Football League with that style of football."
Jacobs and Burress are, of course, good friends. Jacobs has admitted talking to Burress regularly the past couple of years, often several times per week. This is what you would expect him to say. It ignores a couple of factors, though.
First and foremost, the presence of Burress is something that might undermine Coughlin, and something he might not want. Coughlin refused to discuss Burress during a recent press conference, except to say that a return by Burress really was not a current consideration.
There is also the fact that Jacobs' own status with the Giants has been questioned. He has two seasons remaining on his contract, but he split time a season ago with free-agent Ahmad Bradshaw. The Giants want to re-sign Bradshaw and if they do that there is a question of whether or not they want to keep two highly-paid veteran backs.
Finally, there is the question of what type of player Burress will be when he leaves prison this summer. At 34, after three seasons away from the game, it is reasonable to assume there will be both rust and some slippage in skills. It is a huge leap of faith to assume he will be the same dominant player he was several seasons ago.
Jacobs, though, is not the first Giants player to express support for a Burress return. I'm sure he also will not be the last.