Although the 2002 NFL champions don't seem interested in re-signing 31-year-old defensive tackle Warren Sapp, they did add three veterans Monday, including 33-year-old two-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Todd Steussie. Steussie was released last week by Carolina.
"There was a very short list of places I wanted to go see, and this is the only trip I made," Steussie said. "The biggest thing is it left me wanting a whole lot more. That was one of the reasons I came down here. I wanted to go to a place that would allow me to win one more game than I won last year."
Tampa Bay also signed longtime backup quarterback Jason Garrett and defensive back Tom Knight, who spent last season with Baltimore.
Knight was the ninth overall pick in the 1997 draft with Arizona, but spent last season primarily as a special-teamer with Baltimore. Garrett has started nine games in 11 seasons with the Cowboys and Giants and is considered as much a quarterbacks coach these days as a backup QB.
Brian Griese, who was in Miami last year after spending five seasons quarterbacking the Denver Broncos, visited with the Bucs, but no deal was struck.
The Buccaneers also said the deal sending Keyshawn Johnson to Dallas remains alive.
Johnson, deactivated for the final six games of last season because of differences with coach Jon Gruden, has already agreed to a restructured contract with Dallas worth US$20 million over four seasons. But Tampa Bay hasn't reached agreement on a restructured deal with Galloway, who has three years left on a seven-year, US$42 million contract.
"We're going to have another conversation with his representatives ... and probably in the next day or two have a conversation with Joey to see what exactly he is looking for," Bucs GM Bruce Allen said.
A couple of Monday's developments were legal.
In Philadelphia, arbitrator Stephen Burbank heard Terrell Owens' appeals to be declared a free agent and said he will decide on Tuesday.
Owens' agent, David Joseph, failed to file papers by a Feb. 21 deadline voiding the final years of his contract, which the NFL ruled kept him with San Francisco. The 49ers then traded him to Baltimore.
And Washington linebacker LaVar Arrington filed a grievance with the league over US$6.5 million he claims is missing from his latest contract with the Redskins.
The three-time Pro Bowl linebacker signed a nine-year, US$68 million contract in December, but Arrington claims he actually agreed to a US$74.5 million deal. Arrington contends the contract was supposed to include a US$6.5 million roster bonus for the year 2006.
-- Buffalo picked up a US$2 million option on center Trey Teague, keeping him with the team for another season.
-- The Vikings released receiver D'Wayne Bates and backup safety Jack Brewer.
Bates was signed two seasons ago and became the No. 2 receiver opposite Randy Moss. But injuries limited him and he played in 10 games last season, finishing with 15 catches for 151 yards and one touchdown.
Brewer was the Vikings' special teams captain last season before a season-ending chest injury in November.
-- Miami moved closer to acquiring wide receiver David Boston from San Diego. Completion of the deal hinges on Boston accepting a restructured, incentive-laden contract. He's guaranteed US$6.9 million over the next two seasons under terms of the seven-year contract he signed before falling out of favor in San Diego, which he joined as a free agent after leaving Arizona.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier