Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress has spent the last 21 months incarcerated, boxed in a tiny room with a sink, toilet and a bed — far too short to accommodate his lanky 6-foot-6 frame. Locked away in a prison cell inside the Oneida Correctional Facility in Upstate New York, Burress, will be released today.

Waiting for him will be his wife, Tiffany, a lawyer who has been living for this day, and two children, a 4-year-old son and a 19-month-old daughter born to Tiffany while Burress was in jail.

Walking into their love — Tiffany plans to whisk him away to their home in Florida — will be the easy part.

But after that it’s going to be complicated for Burress.

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Burress, 33, who hopes to resume his NFL career, was at the heart of a firestorm when a firearm he was carrying illegally in the waistband of his pants in a New York nightclub discharged. Many thought his sentence was too tough — especially since he shot himself only — but had he not plead guilty he could have spent three and a half years behind bars had the case gone to trial.

By all accounts he has been a model prisoner while serving his time in protective custody, and when the NFL season resumes and the lockout ends, Burress will be in somebody’s training camp, perhaps in Philadelphia where he would be teemed with quarterback Michael Vick. As you know, Vick continues to author an incredible redemption story after serving time for his role in an even more highly publicized case involving his role in a dog-fighting case.

But Vick was not even 30 when the Eagles took a chance on him. And when he returned to play spot duty backing up Donovan McNabb in his first season back, Vick did not have his trademark athleticism, which he was finally able to display last season as the starter in Philadelphia.

Burress, who turns 34 in two months, was a legitimate star before his imprisonment. To his credit he has four 1,000-yeard receiving seasons, and in 2007 he caught the touchdown that helped the Giants upend the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

But Burress is a wide receiver, not a quarterback, the most pivotal and glamorous position in the game. Despite the heinous nature of Vick’s crime — hundreds of dogs both fought and were put to death by the organization he bankrolled — if you can play quarterback at a high level there is going to be a fan base and, more importantly, an organization that will stand behind you.
No matter how important Vick’s legs are to him — the argument can be made that never in the history of the NFL has a quarterback relied so heavily on his running ability — healthy legs are even more important to wide receivers.

Burress will need to immediately show whichever team that takes a flyer on him that he can still outrun defensive backs and leap high into the air in the red zone to snag balls the way he did when last seen. Having missed two years of NFL training that is impossible to replicate while in jail will make this extraordinarily challenging.

If he can demonstrate the ability to still do these things, Burress will very likely make it back to the NFL. However, there will be little room for error.

But there is a bigger picture view of Burress that has to be contemplated and put into perspective. You can make the argument that the time he spent in jail was a bit much considering that he shot himself and none one else. However, now that the penance has been paid, this is irrelevant. You can only hope that he has learned a lesson and perhaps others have learned one as well.

Gun violence among young African-American men, no matter what their social hierarchy, seems, sadly, almost inescapable. Promising Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Aquib Talib, 25, has 15 interceptions in his first three NFL seasons.

Last month he was indicted for firing a gun at his sister’s boyfriend. Sean Taylor was on his way to an incredible career in Washington but had his life cut short by gunfire during an attempted robbery of his home in Nov. of 2007. Earlier that same year, promising Denver Broncos cornerback Darrant Williams lost his life in a hail of bullets while sitting in a limousine.

Talib’s career hangs in the balance. Taylor and Williams won’t get the second chance that Burress will.

Here’s hoping he makes the very, very best of it.