Jets wide receiver Plaxico Burress is in the middle of his NFL comeback, but he has wondered why his former teammate Tiki Barber is not getting the same chance.
Barber announced he wanted to come back to the NFL in March after four years away from football. But no team has signed him.
“It’s crazy,” Burress told The Post. “He’s better than half the backs in the league.”
Burress played with Barber for two years with the Giants, and said he thought Barber would have fit in with someone this year.
“You’d think with the lockout teams would be looking for a veteran guy since the young guys couldn’t go through minicamps,” Burress said. “I’m very surprised he’s not on somebody’s roster. But it’s just Week 4. Maybe somebody will call him.”
Barber is 36 and has not played since 2006, which must have scared away some teams. Burress points out, though, that Barber’s game was never predicated on speed and thinks the time away probably helped Barber’s body recover.
“I believe he can still play and have an impact,” Burress said.
Burress thought of Barber last Sunday in Oakland when he threw a block along the Raiders sideline. In 2005, he threw a block in almost the same spot to spring Barber for a 95-yard touchdown.
Burress saw Barber at his best. He ran for more 1,860 yards and nine touchdowns in 2005 and 1,662 and five touchdowns in 2006 when Burress was his teammate.
“I never realized how good he was until I played with him,” Burress said.