2007 NFL General News Thread

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Vikings Fine Williamson For Missing Game for Funeral

The Minnesota Vikings have docked wide receiver Troy Williamson one game check for missing last Sunday's game against the San Diego Chargers to attend the Monday funeral of his maternal grandmother.

Based on his 2007 salary of $435,000, the action by the Vikings will cost the three-year veteran $25,588. Williamson has 45 days to appeal Minnesota's decision to withhold his pay, and NFL Players Association sources said he will do so.

Coach Brad Childress told Twin Cities-area media following Thursday's practice that the decision was on a "business principle" of the Vikings organization.

"He had a family obligation that he had to see to," Childress said. "We sat down and talked on it before he left. ... He had to do what he had to do. Everybody handles that differently. [Williamson] had to do what his family situation called for."

Williamson's maternal grandmother, who helped to raise him and with whom he was very close, died last week and he returned to South Carolina, where he played a large role in arranging her funeral. He also had to make travel arrangements for several of his siblings, some of whom are in the armed services. He returned to the team on Wednesday as the Vikings began practicing for this Sunday's game against Green Bay.

"I don't care if they would have [taken] my pay for the rest of the year, I was going home," Williamson told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "It wouldn't have mattered to me."

"What we have is both of the situations and circumstances coming to a head," Williamson's agent David Canter said. "His brother is in the hospital, and who knows what his health status will be? And then his grandma passing. He needs to be with his family. The Vikings are his extended family, and hopefully he can come back and continue to work to be the most successful he can be."

Source: ESPN

[AYHJA]

Holy crap..! That's probably the most classless thing I've read this year pertaining to sports...WTF.?

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Vikings Give Check Back To Williamson

Grieving Troy Williamson will get his last game check back.

Vikings coach Brad Childress called reporters Saturday to share the news, citing a need to change course that "came ringing back" to him following a weekly meeting with the veteran players on his leadership committee.

Last week, Williamson left the team to be with his family in South Carolina after the death of his grandmother, Celestine, to whom he was very close. An older brother of Williamson's, Carlton, has also been in and out of a coma following a September car crash.

In a statement issued by his agent, David Canter, Williamson thanked those who spoke up for him and offered support to his family during a trying time. He said he'll donate the returned check to charity in honor of his grandmother.

"My wish is that the issue is over, and that I can now go about being a football player and putting this matter behind me," Williamson said.

Williamson, the seventh overall selection in the 2005 draft who has produced little for Minnesota in 21/2 seasons, chose to stay at home the entire week and not return for last Sunday's game.

The Vikings wanted the wide receiver back sooner, though, and docked him one paycheck for his absence -- which amounted to more than $25,000 of his $435,000 base salary. Players on th active roster are paid 17 times each season, for 16 games plus the bye week.

In explaining the decision earlier this week, the coach pointed to other players who returned a day or two after deaths in the family.

On Saturday, Childress acknowledged he should have been more flexible and indicated owner Zygi Wilf was behind the revisitation of the issue.

"I think the important thing is everybody grieves differently. That's the thing that I learned, or we learned, in this," Childress said. "In the end, it's not important to be right, but to get it right."

Source: Sports Illustrated

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NFL To Eject Players for Helmet-to-Helmet Hits

The NFL has told its officiating crews to start ejecting players for flagrant helmet-to-helmet hits.

The new policy was outlined Saturday in a memo from supervisor of officials Mike Pereira, which was obtained by The Associated Press. It followed two fines last weekend for what the officiating department had determined were hits against players in defenseless positions.

One fine was against Washington Redskins safety LaRon Landry, who will forfeit a game check of $16,764 for a helmet-to-helmet hit on New York Jets quarterback Kellen Clemens. The other was against Philadelphia defensive tackle LaJuan Ramsey, who was fined his game check of $21,176 for spearing Dallas' Julius Jones.

Two weeks ago, San Diego cornerback Drayton Florence was fined $15,000 for a helmet-to-helmet hit that gave Houston quarterback Matt Schaub a concussion.

"Officials will be reminded this week to pay strict attention to these rules and disqualify the fouling player if the action is judged to be flagrant," Pereira wrote in the memo sent to the 32 NFL teams. "Actions that involve flagrant helmet to helmet contact are the likely acts that will include disqualification. Our commissioner and this office remain very focused on the safety of our players."

In the memo fining Landry and Ramsey, NFL director of football operations Gene Washington said emphasis would be on hits against players in defenseless positions.

Landry previously was fined $7,500 for two unnecessary roughness violations on Oct. 21 against Arizona. Ramsey was fined $5,000 on Oct. 14 for roughing the passer against the Jets.

After Florence was fined, the Texans complained that the punishment wasn't severe enough.

"We are disappointed in the sense that we have lost our starting quarterback for at least one game after the player took the crown of his helmet and delivered an illegal blow to Matt's jaw and the fine levied is only a small fraction of the player's weekly pay," general manager Rick Smith said.

"Is that equitable? The punishment doesn't appear to fit the crime when all factors are considered."

Source: ESPN

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Priest Holmes Retires From NFL

Four-time Pro Bowl tailback Priest Holmes, who returned to the field with the Kansas City Chiefs last month following nearly two years of inactivity, has decided to leave the game, and announced his retirement at a Wednesday afternoon news conference.

Holmes, 34, spent the past few days counseling with family members and friends, and speaking with medical experts about a re-occurrence of the neck problems that sidelined him for two years, two sources close to him told ESPN.com on Tuesday night. The decision to retire came after Holmes suffered three hits in last Sunday's game at Indianapolis that left him with some tingling in his extremities.

Chiefs team president Carl Peterson told Holmes to go home Tuesday and to take the night to sleep on his decision, ESPN.com's John Clayton reported. According to a source, it wasn't that Holmes re-injured his neck as much as he experienced a recurrence of the symptoms that led to his 18-month layoff.

"After the third [hit]," a source close to Holmes told ESPN.com on Wednesday, "it was like Priest thought, 'Maybe this is God's way of telling me this is it.' [Coach) Herm Edwards asked him, when he came out after the third hit, if he could go back in, and it was like, 'Uh, let me think about this.' He kind of knew that was the message that this was it for him."

Holmes' retirement will leave the Chiefs perilously thin at tailback. Johnson will miss a third straight game on Sunday with a foot injury that might sideline him the rest of season. The only other tailback on the roster is rookie Kolby Smith, a fifth-round draft choice from Louisville who has carried just 10 times for 19 yards.

Source: ESPN

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Sean Taylor Shot At Home in Florida

Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was in critical condition after he was shot at his Florida home Monday, police said.

Miami-Dade County police officers were dispatched to Taylor's home at about 1:45 a.m. and found him shot. He was then airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital, police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said. He didn't know where on Taylor's body he was shot.

The Miami Herald reported paramedics found Taylor with a gunshot wound to the groin. A family friend who did not want to be identified told ABC-TV 10 in Miami that Taylor was shot twice.

A brief statement from the Redskins said Taylor was undergoing treatment at the Miami hospital and that police were investigating. His family has asked that no information about his condition be released at this point, said hospital spokeswoman Lorraine Nelson.

Taylor has a home in the Miami suburb of Palmetto Bay that he bought for $900,000 two years ago.

In 2005, Taylor was accused of brandishing a gun at a man and repeatedly hitting him during a fight that broke out after Taylor and some friends went looking for the people who had allegedly stolen his all-terrain vehicles.

Taylor reached a deal with prosecutors last year after they agreed to drop felony charges against him. He pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors in the assault case and was sentenced to 18 months probation.

The man, Ryan Hill, also sued, seeking at least $15,000 in damages. Hill suffered bruising to his body, incurred medical expenses and lost wages because of the fight, the lawsuit said.

Source: ESPN

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Sean Taylor Dies From Gunshot Wound

Pro Bowl safety Sean Taylor died Tuesday after he was shot in his home by an apparent intruder, leaving the Washington Redskins in mourning for a teammate who seemed to have reordered his life since becoming a father.

The 24-year-old player died at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he had been airlifted after the shooting early Monday, family friend Richard Sharpstein said. Sharpstein said Taylor's father informed him of the death at about 5:30 a.m.

"His father called and said he was with Christ and he cried and thanked me," said Sharpstein, Taylor's former lawyer. "It's a tremendously sad and unnecessary event. He was a wonderful, humble, talented young man, and had a huge life in front of him. Obviously God had other plans."

Redskins teammate Clinton Portis also played with Taylor at the University of Miami. He had sensed a new maturity in his close friend.

"It's hard to expect a man to grow up overnight," Portis said. "But ever since he had his child, it was like a new Sean, and everybody around here knew it. He was always smiling, always happy, always talking about his child."

Doctors had been encouraged late Monday when Taylor squeezed a nurse's hand, according to Vinny Cerrato, the Redskins' vice president of football operations. But Sharpstein said he was told Taylor never regained consciousness after being taken to the hospital, and he wasn't sure how he had squeezed the nurse's hand.

"Maybe he was trying to say goodbye or something," Sharpstein said.

The attack came just eight days after an intruder was reported at Taylor's home. Officers were sent to the home about 1:45 a.m. Monday after Taylor's girlfriend called 911.

Sharpstein said Taylor's girlfriend told him the couple was awakened by loud noises, and Taylor grabbed a machete he keeps in the bedroom for protection. Someone then broke through the bedroom door and fired two shots, one missing and one hitting Taylor, Sharpstein said. Taylor's 1-year-old daughter, Jackie, was also in the house, but neither she nor Taylor's girlfriend was injured.

Source: ESPN

[AYHJA]

Just one of the saddest things ever...Sean was one of my favorite, if not the #1 player in my book...I hate how in the media they are saying shit like, 'He was just starting to turn his life around,' like...Being a young millionaire and star athlete makes you exempt from making mistakes...We don't want these players to have guns...What the hell can a machete do against a pistol..? Unbelieveable...This is the 4th death this year in the NFL...4th player of 24 years of age to die in the NFL this year...

Life is precious man...We should all be somewhere living it as best we can...

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I agree with you about the media. I left out a couple paragraphs of the article that talked about all the shit that Taylor has done. I think that those things are irrelevant when he was murdered like that. He was a great football player and it sounds like he was a great father and boyfriend. This definitely is a very devastating loss

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Four Arrested In Taylor Case

Police said two men and two juveniles arrested Friday in the shooting death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor went to his home intent on stealing, not killing.

The suspects didn't expect Taylor to be home, said Miami-Dade County police Director Robert Parker, but Taylor was recuperating from a knee injury and had returned to Miami from Washington. When Taylor surprised them, he was shot.

"They were certainly not looking to go there and kill anyone," Parker said. "They were expecting a residence that was not occupied. So murder or shooting someone was not their initial motive."

Police spokeswoman Linda O'Brien identified the four suspects as: Venjah K. Hunte, 20; Eric Rivera Jr., 17; Jason Scott Mitchell, 17; and Charles Kendrick Lee Wardlow, 18. O'Brien said the charges for each had not yet been determined, but "we are talking murder and burglary."

The four were arrested Friday in southwest Florida, about 100 miles from Miami. They will be booked into the Lee County Jail and eventually will be returned to Miami, O'Brien said. She did not have any information on when they would appear in court, their hometowns or if they had attorneys.

Police have been investigating a possible link to a Nov. 17 break-in at Taylor's home, during which they said someone pried open a front window, rifled through drawers and left a kitchen knife on a bed.

Authorities said they had more than one confession, but Parker would not elaborate.

"We're looking into whether or not one or more of the individuals had been at the residence before," Parker said.

Family friend Richard Sharpstein said at least one of the suspects was at Taylor's house when his sister recently had a party, but that Taylor did not know the men.

"They are murderers. They should be treated like murderers and put in the Miami River and floated away."

A woman who identified herself as Jason Mitchell's mother told the Naples Daily News her son was at a birthday party at Sean Taylor's home a couple months ago. She also said her son was at home all week and last weekend.

"I don't know where he's at, I don't know why he's being held," she told the Naples paper. "No parent should see this happen to their child."

Source: ESPN