AP

The way Plaxico Burress figures it, he’s a better receiver now than he was before he went to prison. After all, the degree of difficulty catching passes behind bars was higher.

“There weren’t a lot of guys throwing perfect spirals in there. I had to work to catch those balls,” Burress said with a laugh to Aditi Kinkhabwala of the Wall St. Journal in his first post-prison interview.

Burress doesn’t break a lot of new ground in the conversation, saying that he’s listening to Michael Vick’s advice to focus on his family first now that he’s a free man. Vick and Burress spoke during the week, but it sounds like Burress has spent most of his time trying to corral his 18-month old daughter Giovanna, who was born while Burress was in prison.

Asked about his future, Burress said “you never know” whether he could return to New York. He just wants to get a playbook from some team and get back to work soon.

“I know what I’m capable of,” the soon-to-be 34-year-old said. “All I need to say to teams is ‘don’t judge my future by my past.’ Just let me come out and play football.”