Roundup

Lions rookie Rogers takes part in light drills

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) -- Charles Rogers dressed in pads and took part in a few light drills at Detroit Lions training camp Monday, nearly a week after the No. 2 pick in the draft dislocated his left ring finger.

"We're going to get those sutures out in a day or two, then he'll be able to do more," head coach Steve Mariucci said. "He's out here. He's suited up. He's running routes. He's doing some of those things. He's not fully participating, but after those sutures come out, he'll do more."

Mariucci has said the wide receiver's availability for Saturday's preseason opener at Ford Field against Pittsburgh would depend on how much he practiced this week.

Cards' Johnson returns after health scare

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) -- A day after a visit to the hospital, Bryant Johnson was back with the Arizona Cardinals on Monday, slightly embarrassed and glad to be drawing attention for running pass routes again. The wide receiver, the No. 17 pick in this year's draft, blamed a few drinks and Flagstaff's 7,000-foot elevation for the queasy feeling that led teammates to call an ambulance early Sunday.

Bryant was examined and released from Flagstaff Regional Medical Center.

"That's probably what it was -- being dehydrated and being at this altitude," the former Penn State star said after practice. "I feel fine now."

He denied drinking excessively during his first weekend at training camp. The Cardinals opened camp on July 25, but Johnson didn't sign his five-year, $8 million contract until Wednesday.

Head coach Dave McGinnis, who made a beeline for the player's dormitory when he heard Johnson was ill, said little about the incident.

"It's been dealt with," McGinnis said, refusing to elaborate.

Boller sharp despite taking spill in first practice

WESTMINSTER, Md. (AP) -- Kyle Boller nearly didn't make it through his first NFL practice in full pads.

The rookie quarterback dropped into the pocket Monday when Terrell Suggs, the Baltimore Ravens' other first-round pick, rolled the quarterback's legs out from under him.

Both players quickly popped back up; no harm done.

"It brought back old memories," said Boller, who played against Suggs in college. "He's a great player. It's awesome to have such a good defense coming at you. You get the best work that way."

Not all was positive for the Ravens on Monday.

Linebacker Bernardo Harris, who started 12 games last season after Ray Lewis was injured, broke his left leg at practice and said he expected to miss four-to-six weeks.

The team also said that wide receiver Javin Hunter will miss the entire season with a ruptured right Achilles tendon. Safety Ray Perryman dislocated his left shoulder and is out indefinitely.

As for Boller, he ended his holdout last week, but circumstances delayed his first full-scale workout until Monday morning, when he formally entered the competition to determine the Ravens' starting quarterback for the Sept. 7 opener in Pittsburgh. Chris Redman is the incumbent and journeyman Anthony Wright is also in the hunt.

Staley blames Eagles management for holdout

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Running back Duce Staley, speaking publicly about his holdout from the Philadelphia Eagles' training camp, blamed his absence on a lack of communication from the team's front office and said it "hurts me more than I could put into words" to be away from football.

Staley, whose contract ends this season, criticized Eagles management in a statement on Monday for not "seriously" discussing his future with the team and said he hoped to be back on the field as soon as possible.

"Unfortunately, not one person in the Eagles front office has given me any idea of what the future holds for me as a player for the Eagles beyond this season," Staley said in the statement, which was addressed to his teammates, coaches and Eagles fans. "This has come as a real shock to me. After a while, you start to wonder what's going on. Why haven't the Eagles front office even tried to talk to me and see what my thoughts are on the subject of my future?

"The reality is that they have not asked what my goals are and what I am trying to accomplish as a key player for the Eagles."

Staley is scheduled to make $2.2 million this year, his seventh with the Eagles. He has been absent from the team's training camp in Bethlehem, which began more than a week ago, and also skipped an optional minicamp in June.

The Eagles' primary running back, Staley led the team with 1,570 total yards last season.

Staley, who wants a contract extension, said he was working out two and three times a day and is in the "best shape of my life." He said he had always wanted to finish his career with the Eagles and hoped to win a championship in Philadelphia this season.

"This hurts me more than I could put into words," Staley said. "I have always been proud of showing up ready to work harder than anyone else. It's how I've always worked. To go against the standards I've set for myself has been very tough."

Eagles spokesman Derek Boyko declined to discuss Staley's statement, saying only, "We have been responding to question's regarding Duce's situation over the past week."

Staley is being fined $5,000 for each day he misses training camp.

Knight moves into Dolphins' starting safety spot

DAVIE, Fla. (AP) -- Miami Dolphins newcomer Sammy Knight needed barely a week of training camp to dislodge Arturo Freeman as the starting strong safety.

Knight was listed with the first team on the first depth chart released Monday, and he'll start the opening exhibition game Friday against Tampa Bay.

Cornerback Patrick Surtain probably won't play. Surtain has been sidelined for a week with inflammation and swelling in his left knee, which may require arthroscopic surgery.

Even if Surtain has the operation, he's expected to be ready for the start of the regular season Sept. 7.

Knight was a six-year starter at New Orleans, and made the Pro Bowl in 2001 before signing with Miami as an unrestricted free agent in May. He has quickly made an impression on Dolphins coaches.

"I've just tried to play my style of game," Knight said. "My game is a physical game and trying to make plays. I'm about trying to hit you hard and take the ball away from you and get myself in a position to make turnovers."

That's what Miami wants. Freeman started all 16 games last season, but didn't force or recover a turnover.

"Sammy right now is just playing a little better," head coach Dave Wannstedt said. "Sammy will start this week and we'll just progress from there."

On the offensive depth chart, Obafemi Ayanbadejo has moved ahead of Deon Dyer at the backup fullback spot.

Surtain required arthroscopic surgery on his left knee two years ago this week but didn't miss a game that season. He sat out two games in 2002 when he sprained the knee.

A recent MRI showed no structural damage, Wannstedt said.

"We're still evaluating his situation," Wannstedt said. "The discussion right now is what's the best way to treat this thing and get him back as fast as we can."

Insect bite could keep Moorehead out of preseason opener

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) -- Carolina Panthers fifth-round draft choice Kindal Moorehead returned to the team Monday after spending four days in a Charlotte hospital because of an insect bite.

Moorehead, a defensive tackle from Alabama, is expected to practice later this week, but may not play in the preseason opener on Saturday against the Washington Redskins.

On July 26, the first day of training camp, Moorehead said he awoke with what he thought was a mosquito bite on his right forearm. Although it itched, Moorehead thought it would go away on its own.

It didn't.

Four days later, his right forearm, hand and elbow had swelled. The team's medical staff immediately sent him back to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte for more observations.

"It just kept getting worse and worse," Moorehead said.

The arm had become infected and doctors worried there might be a chance of the bacteria spreading to the rest of the body. Doctors extracted a piece of skin from around the bite and put Moorehead on antibiotics and kept him on intravenous fluids.

Doctors can't be sure for certain, but they believe Moorehead was bitten by a spider.

"When something like that happens, one of the worst things you can do is exert yourself physically. And here he was out there going through two-a-days in the heat, exerting himself as much as a person can," Panthers head coach John Fox said. "So it was badly infected and we had to straighten that out."

Moorehead was back with his teammates in Spartanburg on Monday, but isn't expected to practice until later this week when the wound has had time to heal.

Until then, he's wearing a large bandage on the forearm.

Fox said it's unclear at this point if Moorehead will play in Saturday's preseason opener against the Washington Redskins.

"He spent four days in the hospital, so we've got to get him back in football shape," Fox said. "We just want to make he's 100 percent before we bring him back."

Moorehead said it was a "scary" situation, especially given today's ever-growing threat of the West Nile virus.

"I was just looking at it like a regular bug bite," Moorehead said. "But then my arm kept swelling up. When I went to the hospital and they said they would have to keep me for a few days, then I started to get worried about it. Things like that happen that you have no control over."

Colts RB James looks good, feels good

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) -- Edgerrin James appears to be back in form.

In the first week of the Indianapolis Colts' training camp, the two-time NFL rushing champ is making moves he couldn't make last season, the year after he underwent surgery on his left knee.

"We've seen the same thing in summer school," Colts president Bill Polian said with a wide smile Monday. "It tells me he's on schedule, and he's back to where he was."

For James, it has been a long, painful and difficult recovery from the injury: a torn anterior cruciate ligament, the worst injury there can be for a running back.

Doctors and coaches warned him it would take two years to heal completely.

But last year at training camp, James proclaimed himself 100 percent fit just nine months after the surgery.

Initially he showed glimpses of his Pro Bowl form. As the season wore on, though, things changed. James got nicked up, and eventually wore down.

He sprained both ankles and missed two games. He needed rest during games and practice. He cut cautiously and his typically powerful runs became rare. He was even replaced in short-yardage situations.

He finished the season with 989 yards and a 3.6 average compared to 1,553 and 4.2 and 1,709 and 4.4 in his first two seasons.

"I was coming from a situation of not being able to walk every day," James said. "I was held back, I couldn't do full two-a-days and that gave a false sense of what I could do."

This year already feels different to James, whom the Colts selected ahead of Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams in the 1999 NFL draft.

When he walks up and down steps, he doesn't feel pain. On the football field, he's running with power and doesn't worry about hits.

"There's a big difference," James said. "The cuts, going through the holes, it's totally different. Before I was going with caution."

Browns' Monroe breaks leg for second straight year

BEREA, Ohio (AP) -- The Cleveland Browns placed tight end Rod Monroe on injured reserve with a broken leg and signed fullback Kevin McLeod on Monday.

Monroe played in seven games with the Browns in 2001, but missed the 2002 season after breaking the same leg.

McLeod played in the Arena League this past season and hasn't played in the NFL since 1999 with Tampa Bay.

The Browns also signed tight end Bob Slowikowski and waived fullback Keala Keanaaina and defensive back Jason Moore. Defensive back Raymond Walls left the team for personal reasons.

Pats to start pair of rookies in secondary

FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) -- Two rookies will start at cornerback Thursday for the New England Patriots against the New York Giants in the exhibition opener for both teams.

Second-round draft choice Eugene Wilson of Illinois and fourth-round pick Asante Samuel of Central Florida will start in place of injured veterans Ty Law and Otis Smith.

Law has been limited in practice with an ankle injury. Smith, in his 14th season, is rehabilitating offseason shoulder surgery.

"They've moved along well," Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said of the rookie cornerbacks. "They're going to be out there and they're going to get the opportunity to go against whomever the Giants put out there, their best guys, so it will be a good evaluation for them."

Rossum, Jenkins vying for kickoff return job

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) -- Special teams coach Joe DeCamillis believes a leader will begin to emerge Saturday night between his two leading candidates to return kickoffs this year.

Allen Rossum and MarTay Jenkins are even as the Atlanta Falcons open the preseason with an 8 p.m. game against the Green Bay Packers.

"No, we haven't played yet, so it's hard to tell," DeCamillis said Monday. "You know what both of them can do, but you hope they both can be effective."

In his fourth season last year with Arizona, Jenkins led the NFL with an average of 28 yards per return. He fielded only 20 kickoffs, compared to 53 for Rossum, who was named a first-team Pro Bowl alternate with a 22-yard average.

A fractured right shoulder ended Jenkins' season after eight games. He became the league's first 2,000-yard single-season kickoff returner three years ago.

Rossum doesn't have much competition as a punt returner. His 12-yard average last year was a career high and was ninth-best in the NFL. DeCamillis has been working three receivers -- Jimmy Farris and rookies LaTarence Dunbar and Terrence Edwards -- as Rossum's backups.

"We're trying to turn LaTarence into a punt returner, but he's never done it before. He's got a legitimate chance," DeCamillis said of the No. 2 job. "We'll just have to see what he does in a game."

Looking at reserve running back Travis Jervey, whose season ended last year with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in Week 7, DeCamillis thinks his special teams ace needs a preseason game before he can feel comfortable on his surgically repaired knee.

"He looks better each day," DeCamillis said. "He's come back, and the last couple of practices, he's shown some straight-ahead speed, and also when he's caught in a double-team or something like that, of planting on that leg and pushing off on it and showing the strength he has."

CBS announcing teams are just about the same

NEW YORK (AP) -- Jerry Glanville will rejoin CBS on a part-time basis and Beasley Reese will move from sideline reporter to game analyst on the network's telecasts of NFL games this season.

Otherwise, the network's lineup is the same as last season, with Jim Nantz hosting the pregame show with Dan Marino, Deion Sanders and Boomer Esiason, and Greg Gumbel and Phil Simms the network's top play-by-play team.

Glanville, the former head coach of the Houston Oilers and Atlanta Falcons, will be a part-time analyst with Bill McAtee. Reese will serve as an analyst with Craig Bolerjack.

Other announcing teams will be Dick Enberg with Dan Dierdorf; Kevin Harlan with Randy Cross; Gus Johnson with Brent Jones; Ian Eagle with Solomon Wilcots; Don Criqui with Steve Tasker, and Tim Brando with Spencer Tillman.

Marcus Allen and Lesley Visser will serve as reporters for the pregame show. Armen Keteyian will be the sideline reporter for the Gumbel-Simms team and Bonnie Bernstein for the Enberg-Dierdorf team.

Lions' Schlesinger signs two-year extension

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) -- Detroit Lions fullback Cory Schlesinger has signed a two-year contract extension.

Schlesinger, 31, has 153 carries for 449 yards and five touchdowns and 136 receptions for 1,037 yards and three TDs in eight seasons with the Lions.

Last season, Schlesinger had 49 carries for 139 yards and two touchdowns, and 35 receptions for 263 yards in 15 games.

"Cory is a fine football player," head coach Steve Mariucci said. "He's one of that group of elite fullbacks, we think, in the National Football League."

The Nebraska product, who long has been considered one of the NFL's best blocking fullbacks, was selected as an alternate to this past season's Pro Bowl.

"It's a very good feeling," Schlesinger said Monday. "Again, I'm not signing this to be a backup. I'm signing this to be a starter throughout my whole football career here.

"My goal is to sign another contract with these guys. I'm going to keep playing until I can't play anymore, and that's what I'm going to do."

Spurrier clarifies Wuerffel acquisition

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) -- Mindful of his reputation, Steve Spurrier was quick to dash any notion that Danny Wuerffel's return is the first stop in yet another year of quarterback carousel.

"We don't have any problems," the Washington Redskins head coach said Monday. "Some of you guys may want to create them, but there's no problems on our team who the quarterback is."

After making five starting quarterback changes in his first NFL season a year ago, Spurrier is going with second-year player Patrick Ramsey through thick and thin, at least for now. The plan is for Wuerffel, who joined the team Monday morning at practice, to compete with struggling veteran Rob Johnson for the No. 2 spot.

"Patrick Ramsey is by far our best quarterback," Spurrier said. "Danny gives us some insurance."

Wuerffel, Ramsey and Shane Matthews each got two turns at the starting job a year ago. Wuerffel started four games and was the only quarterback to lose his job due to injury. He completed 58 of 92 passes for 719 yards with three touchdowns and six interceptions.

It had been expected Spurrier would bring Wuerffel back for another season, but Spurrier hesitated because of the backlash he received from signing so many of his former Florida players a year ago.

"We sort of cleared out all the old Gators, to tell you the truth," Spurrier said. "We cleared out, then we started adding back guys to help our team. I told Danny I was sorry it had to work this way."

Bengals waive rookie free agents Happe, Adkisson

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (AP) -- The Cincinnati Bengals on Monday waived rookie free agents Noah Happe and James Adkisson, who had both signed with the team in May.

Happe was a defensive end and long snapper from Oregon State. Adkisson was a wide receiver from South Carolina.

The Bengals begin their preseason schedule Sunday with a game against the New York Jets.

Jets activate CB Hunter

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) -- The New York Jets activated cornerback Will Hunter from the physically unable to perform list Monday.

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound Hunter was placed on the PUP list with an ankle injury on July 21. Hunter, a rookie free-agent out of Syracuse, will return to practice with the team Tuesday.

 

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