Quarterback Tim Couch, the top overall choice in the 1999 draft, was cut by the Green Bay Packers as teams got down to the 53-man roster limit for the NFL regular season on Sunday.
Couch was drafted by Cleveland and released by the Browns in June. He joined the Packers and was projected as Brett Favre's backup. But he never progressed.
"He just wasn't productive enough," Packers coach-general manager Mike Sherman said. "We took a shot in hoping he could be the guy. I don't think it's the first time in the league that you were wrong on somebody. It certainly won't be my last time and it wasn't my first time.
"It's unfortunate," Couch said. "I'm disappointed it didn't work out. I really thought with the tapes I studied last year, I really thought it would work out. It didn't."
Couch, who got a US$625,000 roster bonus from Green Bay when he signed, completed just 11 of 34 passes for 96 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions in three preseason games.
Two other former Packers, running back Dorsey Levens and wide receiver Antonio Freeman, also had brief stints with new teams before being cut on Sunday.
Levens, 34, was signed two weeks ago after the Eagles lost Correll Buckhalter to a season-ending knee injury. Levens ran for 37 yards on 12 carries in his only game against the New York Jets.
Freeman joined the Dolphins earlier this summer after David Boston was lost for the season. But his lack of speed and inability to make any plays in the preseason got him released.
Morten Andersen, the second-leading scorer in NFL history, had his contract terminated by Kansas City. Andersen was beaten out by Lawrence Tynes, who kicked the past two seasons in the Canadian Football League.
"I am sure he will find a place," Vermeil said of Andersen. "He could end up kicking against us."
The 44-year-old Andersen has 2,259 points.
New Orleans cut 15-year veteran center Jerry Fontenot, who lost his position to LeCharles Bentley, who moved over from guard. Fontenot, 37, started all 80 games the past five seasons and was selected as a Pro Bowl alternate last season.
"I certainly hold my head high, knowing that I did everything the coaches asked of me and everything the organization asked of me," Fontenot said. "I feel very blessed in my career."
The Saints also let go of linebacker Darrin Smith, who was with them since 2000.
San Diego cut receiver Kevin Dyson, a member of the Titans and Panthers when each played in the Super Bowl, and safety Kwamie Lassiter. Lassiter, a nine-year pro, started for the Chargers last year.
The Chargers kept four quarterbacks: Projected starter Drew Brees, first-round draft choice Philip Rivers, veteran Doug Flutie, and Cleo Lemon.
Other notable moves:
-- Veteran DL Bryan Robinson, who had been with the Bears since 1998, was cut. Robinson played both defensive end and tackle in 100 games, with 82 starts.
-- Damien Robinson went on Seattle's injured reserve list. He missed several practices with a bruised shoulder.
The Seahawks also announced second-year tackle Wayne Hunter has been suspended one game by the NFL for violation of the league's personal conduct policy. Hunter was involved in a domestic dispute with his girlfriend last summer.
-- Jarrett Payton, son of the late Walter Payton who was a former teammate of Titans coach Jeff Fisher's in Chicago, was cut by Tennessee. Fisher said Payton knew the situation from the start.
"He was going to be given an opportunity to get better. He took care of the ball in preseason games and to be evaluated. That's what we did. We kept our commitment to him," Fisher said.
-- Nine-year veteran DE Regan Upshaw, who started only eight games after signing a five-year, US$7.5 million contract with Washington, was released.
-- New England cut CB Terrell Buckley, 33, who played 31 games in the 2001 and 2002 seasons, winning a Super Bowl.
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
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