Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum stared at the fax machine waiting for it to ring.
It was now late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, depending on your perspective. Tannenbaum and his staff had been working around the clock with little sleep for days, yet no one needed a caffeine boost at this moment.
They were waiting for Plaxico Burress’ signature to appear, a fax that could change the course of the 2011 season for the Jets. After laying the groundwork in a meeting two years earlier and a frantic final few hours, all they could do was wait.
Things had heated up between the Jets and Burress earlier that night, July 30. Burress visited the Giants the day before, and the Steelers that afternoon. He then took a flight from Pittsburgh to San Francisco, with a layover in Los Angeles late that night.
That layover in Los Angeles could change Jets history.
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The Jets had been eyeing Burress for a while. Owner Woody Johnson first remembers seeing Burress at the team’s old offices in Hofstra before the 2000 Draft on his way to meet with then-general manager Bill Parcells. The 6-foot-5 Burress left a lasting impression on Johnson.
“Amazing guy,” he said.
Burress went eighth in that draft, four picks before the Jets were on the clock. They watched his career unfold with the Steelers and Giants and then saw him go to prison in 2009 after accidentally shooting himself in the leg in a Manhattan nightclub.
Before Burress went to prison, the Jets paid him a visit. Tannenbaum and Johnson were at the Ritz-Carlton in Fort Lauderdale, Fla on May 18-20, 2009 for the NFL meetings. Burress lived nearby, so Tannenbaum and Johnson took a ride to his house. At the time it was uncertain if Burress would go to prison or what his NFL status would be.
Johnson told Burress that he was a big fan and that everyone makes mistakes. He added that after he was free, maybe he could be a Jet.
Of the 32 NFL teams, the Jets were the only ones to do that.
“I don’t know why,” Tannenbaum said. “He’s a good player. He’s a free agent. Why not? I feel like that’s my job.”
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As the Jets prepared for free agency this year, they reviewed tapes of Burress from 2008 before the shooting and were awed. When the lockout ended and free agency began two weeks ago, the Jets made preliminary inquiries to Drew Rosenhaus, Burress’ agent.
By Saturday night, Tannenbaum believed the Giants, Steelers, 49ers, Eagles and Bears were interested. A day earlier, the Jets had lost out on cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha to the Eagles. As soon as that happened, Tannenbaum turned his attention to re-signing corner Antonio Cromartie and director of football administration Ari Nissim began negotiating with Rosenhaus on Burress.
Sometime after midnight, Nissim slipped a piece of paper across Tannenbaum’s desk. Tannenbaum was talking to Ben Dogra, the agent for Cromartie at the time.
He looked at the paper and saw: “Plax SF 1 hour we have to improve the offer.”
The paper also included details of what another team offered that would result in a higher salary if Burress reached incentives.
Rosenhaus had told Nissim that Burress was currently in the air but would have a one-hour layover in Los Angeles. If the Jets would commit to $3 million at that moment, Rosenhaus would recommend the deal to Burress when he landed at LAX before he changed planes.
As Nissim went to Tannenbaum, Rosenhaus called Burress’ wife to let her know what was happening.
Tannenbaum had let Nissim handle the negotiations to this point, but now as general manager he felt he needed some verbal confirmation from Rosenhaus himself.
“Drew if we commit to $3 million, he’s a Jet?” Tannenbaum said.
“Yeah, I’ll recommend it’s a deal,” Rosenhaus replied.
“Look, I can’t do $3 million, but I can do $3,017,000,” Tannenbaum said, adding the extra money as a nod to Burress’ jersey number.
Rosenhaus told Tannenbaum they had a deal.
“I still think to this day if there was a direct flight from Pittsburgh to San Francisco he’d either be a 49er or an Eagle,” Tannenbaum said. “I really believe that.”
At this point, many teams were in pursuit of Burress. Tannenbaum knew he couldn’t just rely on a verbal contract, so he told Rosenhaus they wanted Burress to fax the team his signature to agree to the deal.
Burress received the news when he reached LAX and instead of boarding the flight to San Francisco, began looking for a hotel around the airport where he could stay and also fax the Jets. The problem was every hotel around the airport was sold out.
Burress ended up driving 30 minutes from the airport to find a hotel.
Back in New Jersey, Tannenbaum, Nissim, assistant GM Scott Cohen, director of pro personnel Brendan Prophett and manager of football administration Jackie Davidson were staring at each other waiting.
Finally the fax rang. False alarm.
Then, Tannenbaum noticed the machine was out of paper.
He turned to Davidson, who helps Nissim with the Jets’ contracts, and said, “Jackie, you have a law degree, but you’re only job right now is to make sure that fax machine has enough paper.”
At 2:45 a.m., the fax arrived. Burress was a Jet.
Tannenbaum texted coach Rex Ryan, who immediately called back and the two celebrated.The wait was over.