Former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress is negotiating with several NFL teams to return this season after a judge delayed his trial yesterday on gun possession charges.

Burress made a brief appearance in court, accompanied by his wife and attorney Benjamin Brafman. Judge Felicia Mennin adjourned the case until Sept. 23.

Outside court, Brafman said it was "inconceivable" that Burress would face trial on the charge before 2010, said several teams were trying to sign his client, and "physically he's in the best shape of his life. He's ready to play."

Burress' agent, Drew Rosenhaus, posted on Twitter yesterday that he hopes to have a deal with an NFL team for Burress before training camp starts, and said he's confident the NFL won't have grounds to discipline Burress until after his case is processed in court. Burress shot himself in the thigh Nov. 29 in a Manhattan nightclub. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and faces up to 3 1/2 years in prison. Burress has pleaded not guilty and is free on $100,000 bail.

A scouting assistant paralyzed when the team's practice facility collapsed May 2 attended the start of minicamp. Rich Behm, paralyzed from the waist down in the accident, sat in the pressbox to watch the first practice session of the Cowboys' only mandatory minicamp. He was in a booth with other team scouting officials. Coach Wade Phillips says he believes that Behm is going to be able to start coming to work some.

One of nearly two-dozen undrafted rookies with Carolina, former Penn State safety Anthony Scirrotto faces long odds to make the Panthers' regular-season roster. But he has a fallback plan: professional baseball.

Scirrotto hasn't played competitively since he was a power-hitting high school shortstop four years ago. But it didn't stop the Kansas City Royals from taking him last week in the 50th and final round of the draft.

"This is my first priority, I want to play football," Scirrotto said after an offseason workout with the Panthers.

Tight end Ben Patrick was suspended for four games for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. Patrick tested positive for the drug Adderall, an amphetamine,

Denver signed free-agent wide receiver Brandon Lloyd on the same day a radio station reported holdout Pro Bowl receiver Brandon Marshall wants to follow quarterback Jay Cutler out of Denver.

Quarterback Brett Favre says he is considering coming out of retirement for a second time and the only team he has talked to about a return is the Vikings. Favre appeared on the new HBO show "Joe Buck Live" last night in his first public appearance since retiring from the New York Jets in February. He had biceps surgery 2 1/2 weeks ago on his throwing arm but the doctor said it would take four to five weeks to know if the procedure was a success.

• The NFL broadened its "Rooney Rule" by requiring teams to interview at least one minority candidate when seeking to fill a senior football operations position.

• Former Lions president Matt Millen is adding analyst duties for the NFL Network's "Thursday Night Football" games to his commentator job at ESPN.