NEW YORK — Locked up for 20 months for illegally carrying and firing a gun at a Manhattan nightclub, Plaxico Burress is ready to walk out of prison and face another grim reality, a lockout that could jeopardize the resumption of his football career.

The former New York Giants receiver who caught the game-winning pass in the 2008 Super Bowl is set to leave the Oneida Correctional Facility in upstate New York on Monday. Burress, who turns 34 in August, plans to return to his Florida home to spend time with his wife, son and a daughter born while he was in jail.

Unlike Michael Vick, released in 2009 from a federal term for dogfighting, Burress doesn’t have a league waiting to bid on his services.

But “he will play in the NFL this year,” Drew Rosenhaus, Burress’ agent, said in an email to The Associated Press. “Many teams want him. He will be a top free agent. He is healthy and ready to go. He will be signed shortly after the lockout ends.“

Burress’ release caps a more than three-year saga that saw yet another athlete put behind bars, separated from family and friends and losing the riches and lifestylet.

“You go from being the absolute hero to finding yourself in jail for a mistake in judgment,” Peter M. Frankel, Burress’ attorney, said. “It’s really a tragic story.”