NFL Capsules: Lawyers in NFL labor dispute meet

NEW YORK (AP) — Less than two weeks before some training camps are scheduled to open, he NFL remains in labor limbo, with only the lawyers for both sides meeting.

Attorneys met Monday in New York to clarify language from previous discussions, and will do so again Tuesday. Originally, owners and players were to get together for more negotiations Tuesday, but now won’t do so before Wednesday.

Several issues are close to resolution, the most significant being the split of total revenues between owners and players.

But snags involving a rookie wage scale, free agency rules and benefits for retired players have slowed the process. While the league’s negotiators hope they can present a new collective bargaining agreement to all the owners at their July 21 meeting in Atlanta, not striking a deal before then figures to cause postponement of the start of training camps, and probably cancellation of the Hall of Fame game Aug. 7 in Canton, Ohio.

The St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears are set to play in that game, and both teams planned to open training camp at the end of next week.

The NFL would need about a week to get the new deal ratified and in place, meaning teams couldn’t start signing free agents or draftees, make trades or begin workouts until the end of the month. That would jeopardize the first weekend of exhibition games, Aug. 11-15, at a cost of upward of $60 million in overall revenues.

Commissioner Roger Goodell and several owners will negotiate with NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith and members of the players’ executive board later this week. Extensive negotiations last Thursday and Friday seemed promising, but the parties were unable to close the gap on the rookie wage scale — a subject that wasn’t nearly as contentious in earlier sessions.

At issue is how many first-round picks would fall under the wage scale, and the length of contracts teams could offer those rookies. The savings on salaries were supposed to go to veteran players and toward retirees’ benefits.

Some player agents, particularly those who often represent high draft picks, have opposed a rookie wage scale, saying it eventually would limit earning power for all players.

One proposal, according to a person familiar with the negotiations, would limit the top overall pick to about $7 million a year for five years, with the option to renegotiate after the third year. Sam Bradford signed with St. Louis in 2010 for $78 million over six years, including a record $50 million in guaranteed money. Under that system, this year’s first selection, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, would have exceeded those numbers.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because details of the negotiations are supposed to be private, said minimum salaries for players in their first four years would increase from 17 percent in their first year to 12 percent in their fourth year.

The players insist that unrestricted free agency begin after four seasons, as it did before 2010 when there was a salary cap. Owners, naturally, prefer the six-year minimum in place in 2010 (without a salary cap), and also would like more than the one right-of-first-refusal transition tag they had under the previous CBA.

Each side remains divided on how a “legacy fund” for retired players would be financed, as well.

This week’s talks will be held without Judge Arthur Boylan, the court-appointed mediator who is on vacation. He has ordered both sides to be in his court in Minneapolis on July 19 to continue negotiations while hoping a deal gets done before he returns.

Should negotiations last beyond July 19 — or the owners’ meeting two days later — that could lead to even deeper cuts in the preseason.

Police: Steelers’ Ward failed field sobriety test

ATLANTA (AP) — Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward had glassy, bloodshot eyes and failed field sobriety tests during a traffic stop in Atlanta that landed him a drunken driving charge, according to a police report released Monday.

A transit police officer pulled Ward over just before 2:30 a.m. Saturday after he left his lane and at one point hit a curb in his gray Aston Martin, the report says. The transit police officer called a DeKalb County police officer, who wrote in the report that the former Super Bowl MVP and reigning “Dancing With the Stars” champ smelled strongly of alcohol.

Ward told the officer he had had two bottles of Corona beer three hours earlier at an establishment in the city’s Buckhead neighborhood.

The officer asked him to get out of the car and administered a series of field sobriety tests, including a hand-held breath test that registered positive for alcohol, the report said. Ward later refused to give a breath sample on a state-administered machine at the DeKalb County jail, police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said. That test is used to determine a person’s level of intoxication and can be used as evidence in court.

Ward swayed back and forth and became agitated during the sobriety tests, the report says. He also could not keep his balance and mixed up and omitted letters in the alphabet, the report says.

Atlanta lawyer Andrew Ree on Saturday released a statement saying the 35-year-old Ward was not impaired by alcohol while driving and cooperated fully with police. Ree said in an email Monday that he stands by the earlier statement and had no further comment.

After failing several field sobriety tests, Ward was arrested and booked into the DeKalb County jail and was later released on bond. He asked that his car be released to his passenger, Cory Allen, the report says.

Video from inside the DeKalb officer’s vehicle captured the traffic stop, but police declined Monday to release the video because the case is still active.

Ward is set to appear Oct. 6 in DeKalb County State Court. He faces a misdemeanor driving under the influence charge, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Since being drafted in the third round out of Georgia in 1998, Ward has been a four-time Pro Bowl selection, playing on teams that won two Super Bowls.

Dancing with professional partner Kym Johnson, Ward in May became the second professional football player to win the “Dancing” crown after Emmitt Smith won in 2006. He bested actresses Kirstie Alley and Chelsea Kane to become the season 12 champion of the TV celebrity dance competition.

-- KATE BRUMBACK

Eagles DE Brandon Graham, a locked-out golfer

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Like a lot of locked-out athletes, Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham has had some extra time on his hands.

When Graham hasn’t been rehabbing his surgically repaired right knee in the Los Angeles area, he’s been on a golf course.

A lot.

“I played for two weeks straight to get ready for this,” Graham said Monday at Barton Hills Country Club, appearing at an event to support the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy. “Before that, it was about twice a month.”

“It has improved my game,” he added. “But it has improved my knee, too.”

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Manny Harris isn’t ready to take his game overseas as Deron Williams appears ready to do if the NBA lockout lingers for too long.

“I haven’t even thought about it,” Harris said. “I’m just controlling what I can control and that’s working out.”

Graham said the lockout has given him time to rest and recover from major knee surgery last winter. Philadelphia’s first-round pick in 2010 said he is to see Dr. James Andrews this week and hopes to be cleared to practice, not play, in September.

“It’s kind of benefiting me in my situation,” said Graham, who says he’s close to full health. “But I know my other players want to get back and get to work and I’m all about that.”

Graham says that of late he’s been using demo clubs and playing golf regularly.

“One thing is, I do hit it straight,” Graham insisted.

The 6-foot-2, 268-pound Detroiter, wearing basketball shoes and apparel, then approached the first tee. He sent the ball about 50 yards to the right in a bunker.

In September, 120 students will be selected by lottery to be ninth-graders at Rose’s open-enrollment, tuition-free charter school when it opens in Detroit.

“I’m trying to create a break-the-mold school,” said Rose, an ESPN analyst, former Michigan and NBA standout. “We want to be able to compete with the best private schools in the state of Michigan.”

-- LARRY LAGE

Sharpe to be presented by brother Sterling at Hall

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Shannon Sharpe has chosen his older brother, former star receiver Sterling Sharpe, as his presenter when he is enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame next month.

The Hall announced the presenters for the Aug. 6 ceremony on Monday.

Bears defensive end Richard Dent picked Joe Gilliam, his coordinator at Tennessee State.

Marshall Faulk and Deion Sanders selected their agents: Rocky Arceneaux and Eugene Parker, respectively. Former Redskins linebacker Chris Hanburger and NFL Films founder Ed Sabol chose their sons. Steve Sabol succeeded his father as president of NFL Films.

Jon Richter will represent his late father, Los Angeles Rams linebacker Les Richter, who is being enshrined posthumously.

Sterling Sharpe played for the Packers from 1988-94, while Shannon was a record-setting tight end for the Broncos.

Attorney: Owens has paid back child support

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A lawyer says NFL star Terrell Owens has paid the child support he owes, so the mother of the child is dropping her attempt to hold him in contempt of court.

Melanie Paige Smith had filed court papers on June 20 in Atlanta, saying the wide receiver had refused to pay the full $5,000 a month he owes.

Her lawyer, Randall Kessler, has now filed court papers to dismiss the request that Owens be held in contempt. The court documents state that Owens has paid child support for June and July.

Kessler said Monday that’s he’s glad the matter has been resolved.

Owens, from Alexander City, Ala., is a free agent and can’t sign with a team until the NFL lockout is resolved.

-- JEFF MARTIN

Rams training at home third straight year

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Rams, who had been considering holding training camp out of town, have decided to stay home for the third straight year.

Rolla, Mo., and Carbondale, Ill., which had been under consideration, fell victim to the lockout.

The Rams had been expected to open camp around two weeks ahead of the Hall of Fame game Aug. 7 in Canton, Ohio. The team said times and dates of practices will be announced at a later date.