"I know what I'm capable of," the former Giants receiver told the newspaper. "All I need to say to teams is, 'Don't judge my future by my past.' Just let me come out and play football."
Burress confirmed prison-life cliches such as bad food and lost time held true. And the weight room wasn't much beyond serviceable, the Journal reported.
"There is nothing pleasant about prison," he said. "There's so much I can tell you and (at the same time) no one thing I can put my finger on. There's an emotional toll and there were definitely some guys I was around who'd done things that made me say, 'Really, seriously, I am here?' "
Yet Burress said he thought he left prison a better receiver than he entered.
"There weren't a lot of guys throwing perfect spirals in there," Burress joked. "I had to work to catch those balls."
Burress said he was able to watch NFL games on Sunday and Monday nights during the 20-month, 16-day stay at Oneida Correctional Facility in upstate New York.
"It definitely makes you hungrier. You watch your friends have success and you want to recommit yourself and accomplish things again," he said.
Burress said his agenda for next week, after he returns from Florida to his home in Totowa, N.J., will include a public appearance Monday with former Colts coach Tony Dungy to talk about gun safety.
"I'm taking it easy this week, but next week it starts again," Burress said. "I think I'll get right back into it and I'll fall back in line with all of it. How I feel about football and what I know I can do -- that's not anything two years can change."
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