Newsmakers
Signed Pro Bowl receiver Miles Austin signed his $3.168 million contract tender with the Dallas Cowboys. The signing came Friday, when the Cowboys opened a minicamp that will be their last organized team workouts until training camp. Austin went from relative unknown to Pro Bowl pick last season, when he caught 81 passes for 1,320 yards and 11 touchdowns.
•The San Diego Chargers signed free-agent wide receiver Josh Reed to a one-year contract. Signing Reed apparently is a pre-emptive move. Pro Bowl wide receiver Vincent Jackson is one of three Chargers players who are so unhappy about being tendered one-year contracts as restricted free agents that they have stayed away from offseason workouts, including minicamp. The others are left tackle Marcus McNeill and outside linebacker Shawne Merriman.
Died A drag racing driver ran through a containment area at the end of a track and died of head injuries after crashing his alcohol-fueled funny car at a “high rate of speed” during a qualifying round at the NHRA SuperNationals at a New Jersey raceway, state police said. Neal Parker, 58, of Millville, N.J., crashed at Raceway Park in Old Bridge, state police Sgt. Stephen Jones said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Parker was entered in the Top Alcohol Funny Car competition. The crash occurred shortly before noon.
•Former Detroit Red Wings coach Bobby Kromm died Wednesday in Livonia, Mich. The Fred Wood Funeral Home said Kromm, the coach from 1977-78 and 1980, died one day after his 82nd birthday. The team says the cause was complica- tions from colon cancer.
Deadline Linebacker Elvis Dumervil has until Monday to sign his restricted free-agent tender from the Denver Broncos or face losing money. Dumervil, the 2009 NFL sacks leader, has a restricted free-agent tender worth $3.168 million on the table.
Pleaded A 22-year-old man accused of posing as a teenager to become a high school basketball star in Texas pleaded not guilty to six felony charges. Guerdwich Montimer is accused of two counts of sexual assault, three counts of tampering with government records and identity theft. Prosecutors say Montimer posed as a teenager and played basketball last year at Odessa Permian High School.