After a 2½-year odyssey that began with a gunshot in a Manhattan nightclub, Plaxico Burress is ready to play football.

"It's emotional because I had some long days and some long nights, and you dream about that day, getting back to what you love," Burress said on a conference call Sunday, shortly after signing a one-year, $3.017 million contract with the New York Jets. "That time has come."

Burress, who served a 20-month sentence at an upstate New York prison on a weapons-possession conviction, will begin his road back in the same city where it nearly ended for him -- the same city where he was feted as a Super Bowl hero.

The veteran wide receiver, who turns 34 in two weeks, said he chose the Jets over his two former teams, the Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers, because he felt "all the pieces are in place" to compete for a championship. The Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers and St. Louis Rams also expressed interest.

Burress confirmed that he was on a layover in Los Angeles, on his way to meet with the Niners, when he agreed to the Jets' deal. Surprisingly, he said he hadn't talked to anyone in the Jets' organization. He said coach Rex Ryan left a couple of messages, but they never actually spoke.

"I really didn't need to talk to him to know what kind of situation I was getting into," said Burress, who was released from prison in June.

It seems curious the Jets didn't want a sitdown before signing such a controversial player, someone who hasn't played in two years. The Giants and Steelers met with him on Friday and Saturday, respectively. But instead of talking, the Jets were bidding. They guaranteed the entire salary; that was the clincher, according to a league source.

"His decision was to go elsewhere," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "It sounded like a bigger guarantee. I don't know all of the facts about that. That's what happens in this business. His decision was made and, again, we wish he and his family well."

Burress said there was a sense of closure with that meeting with Coughlin, and it was good "to kind of turn the page."

Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum weren't made available to discuss the signing. Tannenbaum and owner Woody Johnson met with Burress in the spring of 2009, when they were in South Florida for NFL meetings, not far from Burress' home. At the time, he was facing the likelihood of jail.