Rolle, other NFL stars don't deny Miami booster's allegations

Several high-profile NFL players with University of Miami ties were in the media spotlight Wednesday over their connections to Nevin Shapiro, the imprisoned former Hurricanes benefactor who's at the center of a scandal involving allegations of gross misconduct with student-athletes.

Shapiro, 42, told Yahoo! Sports he gave money, cars, yacht trips, jewelry, televisions and other gifts to at least 72 athletes from 2002 through 2010. He also claimed he paid for nightclub outings, sex parties, restaurant meals and, in one case, an abortion for a woman impregnated by a player.

Andre Johnson (5) celebrates a touchdown with Jeremy Shockey during the 2002 Rose Bowl. Johnson, now with the Texans, has denied alleged ties to booster Nevin Shapiro. Shockey, now with the Panthers, wasn't implicated in the Yahoo! report. (Paul Sakuma/Associated Press)

While most of the NFL players implicated in the Yahoo! story have declined to comment, a few did speak out Wednesday, including New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle, who's alleged to have accepted thousands of dollars in cash, a $7,500 watch, multiple trips to strip clubs and nightclubs and other impermissible benefits.

In comments made to ESPNNewYork.com, Rolle didn't deny the truth of Shapiro's claims.

"Right now, to me it doesn't matter what's true and what's not true," Rolle said. "Like, there's really nothing for me to comment on with this guy. Obviously he's on a rampage to cause, you know, havoc. And, you know, I'm just going to let him do his talking because right now it's really irrelevant and it (doesn't) concern me at this point.

"I'm not going to comment on him," Rolle continued. "I'm not going to comment on the things that he may have or may not have tried to do. To me, right now, that guy is irrelevant."

Shapiro currently is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for masterminding a $930 million Ponzi scheme.

"He's angry. If you get 20 years in prison and you know certain things like that happen, you're going to find someone to take it out on, right?" Rolle said. "I guess we have to bite that bullet."

Rolle, who said he hasn't read the Yahoo! report, added that his mother is worried over the way his relationship with Shapiro was portrayed in the media Wednesday.

"My mom has been calling me and saying they keep showing him with my jersey on, and I'm like you know, I didn't give him the jersey," Rolle said. "When I saw him, he supposedly had jerseys each and every week, so I just happened to be the jersey he had on during the Florida State game. And, you know, he represented me. I played ball down there. He should ... wear the number 6 jersey."

Another player mentioned in the report, current New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, addressed the controversy after practice Wednesday night.

"I feel it's unfortunate that things are being brought up right now from a guy who's in jail," Vilma said. "You can go back and forth with someone who's in jail and try to explain yourself. I really don't want to do that. That's very unnecessary. I'll leave it at that."

The NFL free agency cycle is in full effect, with teams and players agreeing to terms fast as training camps open. Get the latest on all the news right here.

Vilma declined to give an opinion on former Miami players who have backed up some of Shapiro's allegations.

"That's their business," Vilma said. "You're talking about nine years ago, eight years ago. (I've) moved on from that. Far removed from that right now, especially with what's going on with the Saints. I feel like we have a very good team. I feel like we have a very good chance of getting to the playoffs and repeating what we did in '09 (when New Orleans won its first Super Bowl)."

The player alleged in the report to have received the most money, New England Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, declined to comment when contacted by Yahoo! Sports. "I'm not interested, buddy," Wilfork said before hanging up.

On Wednesday, Wilfork tweeted: "I am aware of the report that has claims that involve me while at the U ...... ...While the NCAA and the U conduct their investigations @Mrs75 (his wife) and I believe that it is not appropriate for us to comment."

The Yahoo! report states Wilfork received a $50,000 lump-sum payment during his junior season. Shapiro said the payment was made to secure Wilfork's commitment to his agency, Axcess Sports, which he co-owned with then-NFL agent and current UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue.

Huyghue denied that claim to The Associated Press on Tuesday. "It's just fantasy," Huyghue said. "He never had any role in my company."

Houston Texans All-Pro wide receiver Andre Johnson, who starred for the Hurricanes from 2000-02, is in the report, but he's only mentioned by Shapiro for receiving drinks in the VIP area of some clubs.

"It is what it is, man," Johnson told the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday. "I really don't have much to say about it. The guy's in trouble, and he's trying to take everybody down with him. I'm really not worried about it.

"I don't know about everybody else; I can only speak for myself. I wasn't in the clubs too much when I was in college, so I don't know about that."

Like other NFL players, Johnson is attempting to put distance between himself and the allegations.

"You kind of get upset about it, but at the same time, you can't control what anybody says," he told the Chronicle. "He knows and I know what really happened. It's over. It's done with. The NCAA is handling it, and we'll just move on.

Two of Johnson's Texans teammates, center Chris Myers and offensive tackle Eric Winston, played at Miami during that period, but they aren't mentioned in the Yahoo! report.

"To be honest with you, it was a surprise to me," Myers said about Shapiro's allegations. "I was there five years. I knew the guy was around, but I didn't know all that stuff was going on.

"Every story I read is new stuff to me. It's a shame, but it's a one-sided story right now. I'm anxious to see how it all pans out. He's in prison. He can say anything he wants to say. It's a real shame, dragging down a program right now. There's always two sides to every story.”

Winston received All-American recognition with the Hurricanes before the Texans drafted him in the third round in 2006.

"I heard the name (Shapiro), but I didn't know him, and I couldn't pick him out of a lineup," Winston told the Chronicle. "Anytime you have a guy who, obviously, has the character he has and gets that close to the program it's worrisome.

"Sure, you're surprised when something like this comes out. It's unfortunate that a guy like that got as close as he did with the program, but a lot of colleges are dealing with the same kind of thing. It's unfortunate, but we have to deal with it as a program, as a family and keep pushing forward.”

The three Denver Broncos named in the scandal declined to talk about the allegations Wednesday.

Linebacker D.J. Williams and right tackle Orlando Franklin refused comment as they walked off the practice field. Running back Willis McGahee said: "You want to talk about the Broncos?"

Asked if he wanted to comment on the Yahoo! investigation, McGahee said: "I ain't talking about Miami. I'm out of Miami."

Other NFL players who were seriously implicated by the report but haven't offered comment include San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore, Chicago Bears wide receiver/kick returner Devin Hester and Carolina Panthers linebacker Jon Beason.

CBSSports.com reported Wednesday that the NFL has held discussions with the NCAA and the NFL Players Association about possible sanctions against players who are found guilty of violating NCAA rules. The website cites multiple league sources in reporting the NFL would like to enact fines and possibly even suspensions for a player once he enters the league if he's found to have broken rules while in college.

The NFL, NFLPA and NCAA had discussions several months ago regarding how to stop agents from infiltrating campuses and targeting players.

"The agents and the runners are a significant problem," one league official explained to CBSSports.com. "But so are the players. One thing we want to stop is a player believing he can take impermissible benefits and then use the NFL as an escape hatch."

The NCAA said Wednesday it has been investigating the relationship between Shapiro and Miami for five months, and the allegations -- if true -- show the need for "serious and fundamental change" in college sports.

"We were well aware of it and weren't surprised by the sensational media coverage," NCAA president Mike Emmert said Wednesday in an interview with ESPN Radio. "We've been on top of it for a while, gathering information and collecting data."

Emmert said typical investigations take six to seven months to complete.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Lawyers: NFL, players settle antitrust suit, two other cases

The NFL and its players already had let the world know they worked out their differences. On Tuesday, they formally gave word of the settlement agreement to a pair of federal judges overseeing three pending court cases.

In separate conference calls Tuesday, lawyers for both sides in pro football's labor dispute spoke to U.S. District Judges Susan Richard Nelson and David Doty to say they've settled, contingent on a new collective bargaining agreement being finished by Aug. 4.

The leadership of the NFL Players Association voted unanimously Monday to agree to a deal to end the 4 1/2-month lockout. Owners OK'd an agreement last week.

Nelson was the judge in the federal class-action antitrust lawsuit filed by Tom Brady and nine other players March 11, the day that federally mediated negotiations in Washington broke down, allowing the old CBA to expire. The NFLPA said it was dissolving the union and becoming a trade association, which allowed players to sue under antitrust law.

Now, as part of Monday's deal, the NFLPA will re-establish the union this week. The sides then will negotiate areas that only a union can bargain in a CBA, including drug testing, player discipline and disability and pension programs.

The pact requires that those issues be resolved and a full CBA be done by Aug. 4; no one involved believes that will be a problem.

Doty has oversight for the "lockout insurance" case and a separate collusion claim by players.

On March 1, Doty ruled that the NFL failed to maximize TV revenues for the players, essentially leaving money on the table for the last two years to gain leverage in the labor fight. At a hearing in May, the players asked Doty to make $4 billion in disputed broadcast revenue off-limits to owners; the NFLPA also asked him to award players more than $700 million in damages.

In January, the union accused teams of conspiring to restrict players' salaries last offseason.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

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'Skins, longtime Packer Jenkins reportedly eyeing each other

The Washington Redskins will have multiple roster holes to fill once the NFL lockout ends and free agency begins, but they already might have a willing partner to help overhaul their defensive line.

There is mutual interest between the Redskins and defensive end Cullen Jenkins, The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the situation.

Jenkins, who will become an unrestricted free agent after the lockout is lifted, is coming off a strong seventh season with the Green Bay Packers. He compiled seven sacks in just 11 games, eight of them starts.

Washington certainly could use help along its defensive line as it moves past the Albert Haynesworth era. The Redskins were one of the NFL's worst defensive teams a season ago, finishing 31st overall in total yards allowed per game. They used the draft to begin the re-tooling process of the line, selecting Clemson defensive end Jarvis Jenkins in the second round and West Virginia nose tackle Chris Neild in the seventh.

Jenkins, the younger brother of three-time All-Pro nose tackle Kris Jenkins, will be 30 when the new season is scheduled to begin in September. He has spent his entire career with the Packers since they signed the undrafted player out of Central Michigan in 2003.

NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora also has mentioned in recent NFL.com chats that Jenkins would be a good fit for the Redskins.

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Stadium proposer Leiweke: NFL, L.A. don't trust each other

AEG president Tim Leiweke wants Los Angeles to commit to his company's downtown NFL stadium project by July 31. But, he claims, that might be hard because "there's a lot of distrust" between the city and the league.

Leiweke told the Los Angeles Times earlier this week that team owners "don't have a lot of faith" in Los Angeles, which in turn "doesn't have faith in the NFL, either."

The region hasn't fielded an NFL team since the Raiders (from Los Angeles to Oakland) and Rams (from Anaheim to St. Louis) both left after the 1994 season.

Southern California has been the home of many professional football teams, from the L.A. Buccaneers in 1926 (a traveling team that never actually played in Los Angeles) to the XFL champion L.A. Xtreme in 2002. The Avengers were the last active team in L.A., but the team folded in 2009.

Teams that have called Southern California home1940-45Los Angeles BulldogsPCPFL1967Long Beach AdmiralsContinental1967-68Orange County RamblersContinental1974-75Southern California SunWFL1982-1994Los Angeles RaidersNFL1983-85Los Angeles ExpressUSFL2000-09Los Angeles AvengersArena

Still, Leiweke hopes to receive a "memorandum of understanding" from the Los Angeles city council before it takes its summer break Aug. 1. Meeting that deadline would keep Farmers Field on schedule to open for the 2016 season.

"Can this city and these 15 council people figure out a way to get this project done? Huge question mark," Leiweke said. "This is not a city where a lot of new projects get done.

"These 15 folks sometimes don't know how to get out of their own way. Can they kill this deal? Yes, they are very capable of killing this deal. The key to this entire vision is going to be a deal with the city."

Leiweke said he'd like the city council to issue $350 million in municipal bonds to relocate the convention center's west hall, where the stadium would be built. But the bonds issue has caused some opposition to what Leiweke called "the best deal that's ever been made for any city in the history of the NFL."

"The biggest thing people don't understand about the deal is they're all convinced that the $350 million in bonds is going to end up coming back to haunt the city or ultimately affect the general fund, or become a liability to the taxpayers," Leiweke told the Times. "Once people understand the way we're going to structure the bonds, and the fact that we're going to come in and write a check every year to back those bonds, then the only issue in that area is, what if you go bankrupt? And we say, 'Please, if we go bankrupt, then you have a far bigger issue than a football stadium or bonds.' You've got a $3 billion project and a $6 billion company that goes away? That's not going to happen."

AEG needs an answer from the city by July 31, according to The Times, before the company commits an estimated $45 million on an environmental impact report, designs for the stadium and replacement for the convention center's west hall, and the pursuit of an NFL team to play at Farmers Field.

Finding a tenant for the stadium in the nation's second-largest market shouldn't be difficult, according to Leiweke.

"There are 32 teams, and six or seven of those currently don't have a home that economically works," Leiweke said. "Are all six or seven of those going to solve their problems in their current marketplace? No. We're confident that it's not just going to be one team. I think there are going to be at least two, probably more, that are going to have to look at moving in order to remain competitive within the league."

But for anything to happen, Leiweke insists the city must meet AEG's deadline. If not, he said, "I'm OK if we get to July 31 and we don't get a deal done, and we move on, and I didn't spend $45 million of (billionaire Philip Anschutz's) money."

Gerry Miller, who's heading the city's negotiations with AEG, declined to comment Thursday, but the July 31 deadline came as news to city councilman Bill Rosendahl, who said "we're all ears."

Added Rosendahl: "I don't work under threats or pressure or those types of situations. I truly know that AEG has a lot to gain downtown in having a continued successful partnership with the city of Los Angeles."

AEG operates Staples Center, home of the NHL's Kings and NBA's Lakers and Clippers, and L.A. Live, an entertainment district located across the street from the arena.

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Unhappy Titans fans pepper Goodell on lockout, other issues

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell defended the lockout to some unhappy Tennessee Titans fans and said the league doesn't have a "drop-dead date" to end the impasse with the players and play the 2011 season.

"We're going to work to try to get this done and try to avoid having lost anything more of the NFL than we've already lost," Goodell said.

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Goodell held his latest conference call with season ticket-holders Thursday, spending about 36 minutes on the telephone with Titans fans. They asked Goodell if the 2011 season will be wiped out and about an 18-game schedule, having a team in Los Angeles and how ticket prices are set.

Most of the fans the commissioner heard from weren't happy about the situation.

Lee from Joelton wanted to know why NFL owners won't open their books to the players. John from Lafayette asked how far apart owners and players really are on a collective bargaining agreement. Phillip from Nashville didn't have a question but warned the commissioner that upset fans will take out their anger on the NFL.

"Get everybody to sit down and stay until they work out some agreement and get this thing behind them before the NFL loses all credibility," said Phillip, who shares eight season tickets with his son.

William from San Ramon, Calif., flies to Nashville for three games per season, and he reminded Goodell of Major League Baseball's struggles to regain fans after a strike wiped out the 1994 World Series.

"It's like Rome's a great empire, so's the NFL," William said. "But if it's not supported by the fans, it won't be a great empire."

Goodell calmly answered each question, defending the lockout as a tool to force negotiations. He said he understands fans' frustration and anger directed at the NFL.

"I think all of us will bear the responsibility for it if we're not able to come up with solutions," Goodell said.

The commissioner also defended owners not opening the books, saying that won't solve the issue. Goodell said players have the league's revenue "down to a penny" and know costs are rising faster than revenues. He said NFL economics have dramatically changed over the last 10 to 15 years.

"These are serious issues that need to be addressed, and this is the time to do it and not kick the can down the street here," Goodell said. "The owners have been responsive to putting a fair proposal on the table. We now need the players to engage rather than litigate and to get back to trying to solve the problems, which as you point out are at the core economic issues."

Goodell also said the NFL intends to play the full season. But he noted the league had to cancel its annual rookie symposium in June, with the start of training camps dangerously close.

"We don't have a drop-dead date," Goodell said.

The commissioner said negotiations, not lawsuits, will settle this labor dispute.

"There are obviously issues that we disagree on, but there are certainly solutions to those disagreements," Goodell said. "I think it's going to come down to everyone realizing we're better off working together to find solutions than fighting. That's in the best interest of growing the game and will be in the best interest of all parties going forward."

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

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McNabb move shows Shanahan, 'Skins still learning each other

ASHBURN, Va. -- Just when the Washington Redskins were starting to get a decent feel for life under coach Mike Shanahan, along came his benching of Donovan McNabb, a move so baffling that even players admitted they couldn't figure it out.

"I thought McNabb was hurt," linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said. "I would never expect in a million years that he would be taken out of a game, being who he is and what he's done and his resume. You just don't see that. You wouldn't see a Tom Brady coming off the field. It was surprising, shocking, but (Shanahan) had his reasons for doing it."

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to bench Donovan McNabb was a head-scratcher, and the long-range damage from the move will be very interesting to track. More ...

Had Jim Zorn pulled such a move -- yanking a six-time Pro Bowl quarterback for unimpressive Rex Grossman in the final two minutes with the game on the line against a one-win Detroit Lions team -- Redskins owner Dan Snyder probably would have moved even more quickly to hire a consultant out of Bingo-calling retirement to oversee the head coach's work.

But Shanahan has more cachet, more power, more room for error than the coach who was fired after last year's 4-12 season. Two Super Bowl titles with the Denver Broncos gives Shanahan plenty of leeway in the rebuilding process, and it turns out he might need it. As the McNabb episode shows, the Redskins are still in the getting-to-know-you stage with the demanding coach who likes to control everything.

"We've only been with the guy for six, eight months," Alexander said, "so you've still got to learn his personality, what he likes, what he does, what's the method of his madness -- because we haven't seen the results quite yet from it. But once you start being successful with a guy like that, you understand what he's doing, you become more comfortable and you understand, 'OK, this is why he's doing this.'"

Added guard Artis Hicks: "There's going to be a feeling-out process. It's going to be pretty much for the length of the season, and we're still going through that."

Some of the more practical directives were understood from the start. Don't dare show up late for a meeting. Learn your playbook. Look sharp in practice. Any violation is met with the infamous Shanahan glare.

"There have been times at practice where I might have missed a guy, and I look back and he's just giving me that look," Hicks said. "He don't have to say much. That look says it all. You can look in his eyes, and that's all you need."

If some of Shanahan's words and deeds have raised eyebrows, that's to be expected. After all, he spent 14 years with the Broncos, an eternity in the coaching business and more than long enough for Shanahan to firmly establish his way of doing things for everyone inside the locker room and throughout the community at large. Bumps in the road were inevitable with a change of venue.

Shanahan started well in his first major test of wills, refusing to budge in a standoff against disgruntled defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth. Even the players had called Haynesworth selfish, so they more than understood when Shanahan made the two-time All-Pro pass a conditioning test and work his way up from second string.

Shanahan also put his players on notice that he's monitoring their words. He had a chat with Chris Cooley after the tight end mentioned on the radio something about Haynesworth working with the scout team in practice, a strategic no-no in the eyes of the coach. When the media reported something in a way Shanahan didn't like leading into the first game of the season, he didn't pull reporters aside for a constructive chat to sort out the problem -- he lectured them twice in three days, on the record with cameras rolling, about the need to preserve the team's "competitive advantage."

"I don't want to be called upstairs and talked to," fullback Mike Sellers said. "You've got to watch what you say. We joke about it. 'Now, watch what you say.' It's just one of those things. You've really got to tread lightly."

And it doesn't seem to matter if you're an undrafted rookie or the high-paid Haynesworth.

"You want to be on your Ps and Qs," Alexander said. "And you don't want to be a guy that's caught in his doghouse. He wants it a certain way, and if you don't give it to him, he'll find somebody else and he really doesn't care who you are. You can see that in meetings, how he talks to people. He's the same way from top to bottom. He expects a certain level of professionalism."

Despite the early hiccups, things were starting to hum along as the weeks passed. The Redskins have made it to 4-4 at the bye, equaling their number of wins from last season, despite major problems along the offensive line and at receiver, plus a defense that creates turnovers but gives up lots of yards. Players have credited Shanahan for creating an atmosphere of belief that they can win the close, ugly games they would often lose under Zorn.

But pulling McNabb? It's a head-scratcher that could divide the locker room, outrage the fans and alienate the quarterback for whom Shanahan gave up two draft picks. Shanahan then made things worse by giving inconsistent explanations for the benching. Shanahan's son, the offensive coordinator, gave a version that was flat-out contradicted by McNabb.

Perhaps it's just a matter of a coach being new in town and not yet fully understood. Shanahan, for what it's worth, believes he is on the right track, at least with his players.

"I think all the players have a good feel of what we want as an organization," Shanahan said. "What we're trying to do on the football field and off, the standard at which we practice and which we play at, and I like the direction we're going."

Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett, who once turned around a losing franchise as coach of the New Orleans Saints, said it takes a while to shift a team culture.

"You don't just turn the football team around, you've got to turn the whole organization around," Haslett said. "Because there's a lot of people in that organization, including secretaries, administrative people, people in the building that are negative because you've been losing so many years. So you've either got to get rid of the people that are the negatives, and I'm talking about everybody, and you've got to start over and bring people in that want to build a winner -- or you've got to change people. The whole organization has to feel that they're part of winning.

"When I first went to New Orleans, you didn't want to be out in public because you knew you weren't very good. When we left, I felt they had a great feeling about themselves: 'Hey, this is a good football team.' They felt proud about being out in the community. That's in the process we're in right now."

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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NFLPA head Smith addresses player safety, other issues

In the wake of the NFL's crackdown on illegal hits, NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith issued the following statement Saturday:

"The issue of player safety is bigger than just hits on Sunday. Players understand the difference between aggressive, split-second actions and dangerous play. In addition to this sudden new emphasis on player safety, players call on the NFL to fulfill its obligation to healthcare in a lockout, end nasty litigation against nearly 300 players' workers compensation cases and stop saying 'no' to the disability benefits of NFL legends.

"While there are a range of punishments available as part of the on-field discipline system, the NFLPA will ensure the NFL strictly adhere to the existing rules and disciplinary process. We will also enforce the return-to-play guidelines and safety protocols and practices that occur out of the public eye. Our mission is to remain aggressive on player safety both on and off the field."

The league swiftly addressed illegal hits following three tackles in last week's games with large fines. The NFL warned players that starting this weekend, even first-time offenders will be subject to suspensions for delivering flagrant hits to the head and neck area of defenseless opponents.

Players say they understand the need for safety, but some suggested this escalation in punishment might ultimately have a detrimental effect on a game that is, after all, predicated on collisions.

Cornelius Bennett, a five-time Pro Bowl linebacker who played from 1987 to 2000 with the Buffalo Bills, Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts, addressed the issue of player safety with the following statement Saturday.

"This is a former as well as a current player issue. Of course this issue is bigger than just Sunday hits and fines. The overall health, safety and retirement issue is one that every former player should be supporting and challenging the NFL on today. You can slap yourself on the back about fines while you continue to ignore disability claims and sue players over workers compensation."

For more NFL labor news, visit http://NFLLabor.com

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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