NFL | Giants decide to release Plaxico Burress

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — With their patience running out, the New York Giants handed down their own verdict on Super Bowl hero Plaxico Burress on Friday — receiver dismissed.

In a surprising move, the Giants released Burress a little more than four months after the 31-year-old accidentally shot himself in the thigh with an unlicensed gun in a New York City nightclub.

"I am an optimist, and I believe most situations can be worked out," general manager Jerry Reese said in announcing the move. "We hung in there as long as we could in hopes that there could be a resolution to this situation other than the decision we made today to release Plaxico. It wasn't to be, so now we have to move on."

Burress' four-season tenure with the Giants was highlighted by the winning touchdown catch in the Super Bowl against the previously undefeated New England Patriots in February 2008, but it was also dogged by fines and suspensions.

Burress' status has been uncertain since he shot himself in the thigh Nov. 29 with a gun he put into his waistband. He faces a felony weapons charge that could put him in prison for at least 3 ½ years if convicted.

Burress' case was adjourned Tuesday while his attorneys and prosecutors worked on a possible plea agreement. He is due back in court June 15.

Bankruptcy judge

rejects Vick's plan

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Suspended quarterback Michael Vick told a bankruptcy judge he became a changed man in prison and is determined to do all the right things upon his release, including repaying creditors with the millions he hopes to resume earning in football.

But after more than three hours of testimony in which Vick laid out what he called his "exit strategy," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank J. Santoro rejected it.

Santoro said there is no guarantee the league will have the 28-year-old Vick back, and suggested he start on a new plan by considering liquidating one or both of his Virginia homes and three cars he had planned to keep.

Vick, who played 74 games for Atlanta from 2001 to 2006, is pinning his hopes of emerging from financial ruin on returning to the NFL. He remains indefinitely suspended, and league commissioner Roger Goodell has not said whether he will reinstate Vick after the player's July release from a federal penitentiary in Kansas.

Vick is serving a 23-month sentence for a dogfighting conspiracy; he told the court he has accepted full responsibility for a "heinous" act.

Notes

• Having failed to land Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos, executives for the Washington franchise worked to mend fences with quarterback Jason Campbell.

"We met with Jason today and had a candid discussion," said Vinny Cerrato, executive vice president of football operations.

Campbell termed the meeting "very successful." Cutler was traded by the Broncos to the Chicago Bears on Thursday.

• Jeff Ireland, general manager of the Miami Dolphins, said the team is deciding whether to pursue defensive end Jason Taylor — who was cut by Washington last month. Taylor, 34, has indicated he is willing to return to Miami.

• Reserve quarterback Patrick Ramsey, 30, previously with Denver, has signed a one-year deal with the Tennessee Titans.

• Ex-Raiders quarterback Todd Marinovich, 39, is in jail.

Authorities say he was arrested after missing a drug-rehabilitation-progress review in a Newport Beach, Calif., court earlier this week. He was being held at Orange County Jail without bail.

Marinovich pleaded guilty two years ago to possession of methamphetamine, syringe possession and resisting arrest.