Dolphins sign Michigan OT Long as NFL's top pick in '08

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 23, 2008 | by Associated Press

DAVIE, Fla. -- Jake Long seemed at ease in his new role as the NFL's No. 1 draft pick, leaning into a news conference microphone to talk about his mean streak while his mother sat in the corner, nodding as she smiled.

The Miami Dolphins were grinning Tuesday, too. They signed the Michigan left tackle to a five-year contract with $30 million guaranteed, and they'll select him with the top pick in the draft Saturday.

The deal allows the Dolphins and Long to avoid a possible holdout.

"It's really important for us to know Jake is going to be on the field for us on time when training camp begins in July," coach Tony Sparano said. "That was critical."

Long's total contract package is for $57.75 million, said a person familiar with the negotiations who didn't want to be identified because the Dolphins declined to reveal terms. Last year's top pick, JaMarcus Russell, signed for $61 million with the Oakland Raiders but missed all of training camp before reaching a deal.

Long becomes the highest-paid lineman in the NFL and a 6-foot-7, 315-pound cornerstone in a rebuilding project for the new Dolphins regime led by Bill Parcells. Last season Miami went 1-15, and the offensive line has been a chronic problem in recent years.

"Jake was our guy from the beginning," general manager Jeff Ireland said. "Jake Long was on the top of our board for a long time. There wasn't a whole lot of debate. We thought it was a very good fit with the Miami Dolphins."

With many other needs as well, the Dolphins were interested in trading the top pick for multiple lower choices. When no suitors surfaced, they began negotiations last week with Long's agent, Tom Condon.

PANTHERS DE RUCKER RETIRES: Mike Rucker turned to thank Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson and started to choke up. Richardson's lower lip was quivering as he wiped his eyes with a tissue.

It was clear from the moist eyes that filled the room during his retirement news conference that the defensive end left a mark on the franchise -- well beyond his 553 tackles and 55 1/2 sacks.

"I'm done," Rucker said, his voice cracking. "I have to let it go."

It wasn't easy, and it was perhaps even more difficult for the people Rucker touched in the organization where he spent his entire nine-year career.

Rucker ranks second in team history in tackles and sacks, and third in games played with 139. But that wasn't why the room was jammed with not only more than two dozen current and former teammates, but trainers and receptionists, too.

It was because Rucker was the guy who asked the low-level employee about his family, who would sign up to visit sick children in hospitals.

"He's been a role model for the organization and for the community," Richardson said.

LEWIS SAYS JOHNSON SHOULD SIT OUT: The Bengals are calling Chad Johnson's bluff.

Tired of the receiver's posturing for a trade, coach Marvin Lewis said Tuesday that Johnson should keep his word and sit out the season -- the strongest comment yet from an organization that is reluctant to let him go.

The Bengals also turned down Washington's offer of two high- round draft picks for Johnson, who had hoped to be traded before the draft this weekend. The move indicated that Johnson will be staying in Cincinnati, like it or not.

Lewis also said that linebacker David Pollack is leaning toward retirement. The former first-round draft pick broke a bone in his neck while making a tackle during the 2006 season and went through months of difficult healing and rehabilitation.

Pollack's decision isn't a surprise. He has said all along that he doubted he would return if there was a chance he could injure his neck again.

Lewis was pointed in his comments about Johnson. The Pro Bowl receiver has been disgruntled since the middle of last season, when his look-at-me antics came under criticism.

JUDGE REFUSES NFL MOTION: A federal judge denied on Tuesday the NFL's motion that he vacate his earlier ruling that allows suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick to keep $16.5 million in bonuses.

U.S. District Judge David Doty also declined the NFL's motion that he recuse himself from the case. The league had accused him of bias.

Doty had ruled in February that the Falcons would violate the NFL collective bargaining agreement if they tried to recover the roster bonus money Vick already received.

Vick is serving a 23-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to federal charges in a dogfighting operation. After the plea, the Falcons tried to recover about $20 million in bonuses Vick earned from 2004 to 2007. A court-appointed expert concluded last October that the Falcons were entitled to recover the bonuses, but Doty disagreed, saying the team could only recover his signing bonuses.

Doty had jurisdiction over the case because he has long handled matters arising from the NFL's collective bargaining agreement with its players and has developed special expertise along the way. In his 15-page ruling Tuesday, he wrote that the NFL had failed to meet the "high bar" necessary to get a judge disqualified.