Newsmakers
Signed The New England Patriots signed former Oakland Raiders tackle Gerard Warren as they continued to restock their defensive line. New England, which lost defensive end Jarvis Green as a free agent to Denver, had signed defensive tackle Damione Lewis on April 10 after he was released by the Carolina Panthers.
Released The New York Jets released veteran Pro Bowl left guard Alan Faneca, two years after he came in to stabilize the Jets’ young offensive line. Faneca, who played 10 years in Pittsburgh before signing with New York in 2008, will be replaced by second-round pick Vladimir Ducasse or Matt Slauson, last year’s sixth-round selection.
Supported The Pittsburgh Steelers offered their first tentative show of support for Ben Roethlisberger, with director of football operations Kevin Colbert saying the disgraced quarterback has earned the right to make up for his tawdry behavior. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended the two-time Super Bowl winner for six games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
Decided With Cleveland Browns fans fired up over the selection of Colt McCoy in the third round of the NFL draft, team president Mike Holmgren said that there are no plans to play the Texas quarterback as a rookie. Despite his pedigree, McCoy just isn’t ready and Holmgren said he won’t force him on coach Eric Mangini.
Awarded Milwaukee general manager John Hammond became the first Bucks executive to win the NBA’s executive of the year award, after Milwaukee finished the regular season with 12 more wins than last season and earned its first playoff berth since 2006. Hammond received 12 of 30 votes from a panel of fellow NBA executives. Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti was second with nine votes and Cleveland’s Danny Ferry took third with two votes in results the league announced.
Rescinded Boston’s Zdeno Chara will play in Game 6 against the Buffalo Sabres after the NHL rescinded an instigator penalty assessed to the Bruins’ defenseman in a Game 5 loss. Chara was assessed a minor penalty for instigating, a major for fighting and a game misconduct at the end of Buffalo’s 4-1 victory Friday. That resulted in an automatic one-game suspension, pending review.