• Stallworth can be removed from draft lists

  • By AJ Mass | June 19, 2009 9:27:20 AM PDT

Browns receiver Donte' Stallworth was sentenced in a Miami court Tuesday to 30 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter in the death of a pedestrian. The NFL subsequently suspended him "indefinitely" on Thursday.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made it clear that the league does not take Stallworth's actions lightly. Eventually, the two will meet to determine the exact length of the suspension. Regardless of whether the suspension will be for the entire 2009 season, Stallworth can safely be dropped from your 2009 rankings lists. He wasn't ranked in our Top 140 even before being suspended.

Meanwhile, the Browns will have to make do with free-agent signee David Patten and draft picks Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi, who will all compete in training camp for the starting job opposite Braylon Edwards.

• In other NFL news involving the legal system, the Jets have said they will not pursue Plaxico Burress until his status in court and from the commissioner's office is known. "Otherwise, basically it's a holding pattern," Jets owner Woody Johnson told Newsday. If the Jets require closure to negotiate with Burress, it most likely will be later rather than sooner, as the case has been continued until Sept. 23, when the NFL season will already be under way.

• The Houston Chronicle reports that tight end Owen Daniels was a no-show for the Texans' mandatory minicamp this week, and the tight end was fined $9,000 for his failure to attend. Daniels did sign the team's one-year offer but is reportedly seeking a multi-year deal. Cornerback Dunta Robinson, who shares Daniels' agent, also was a no-show, but he was not fined, as he has not yet signed any deal. Coach Gary Kubiak was optimistic about Daniels going forward, telling the paper, "[Contract problems are] just part of the business. … I'm counting on him to be ready to go, and the team's counting on him to be ready to go, too. I'm hoping it's July 31." We'll see whether either of the two is in uniform when two-a-days get started at the end of July.

• Minneapolis Star-Tribune writer Judd Zulgad speculates that if Brett Favre does decide to wear Vikings purple, that could mean the end of Tarvaris Jackson's time in Minnesota. With Jackson being in the final year of his contract, it makes more sense for the team to groom 2008 fifth-round draft pick John David Booty, who is entering the second season of a four-year deal, as a backup. Jackson would probably be better served moving on as well, possibly to a place where he can back up a quarterback in a system that more suits his scrambling style of play, such as Jacksonville or Kansas City.

• In lighter news, despite his claims to the contrary, Chad Ochocinco will not be moving in with Carson Palmer, his wife and their newborn twins. As Palmer told the Dayton Daily News, "I just told him that unless he's picking up my mortgage for the month of July and August, he can't stay. He's not living for free. I don't need another kid around the house." Of course, Ochocinco also has guaranteed a playoff appearance for the Bengals this season, and earlier this week reportedly tweeted his desire to fight NFL Network's Solomon Wilcots, so how seriously should we take anything he says?


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