COWBOYS RELEASE WIDE RECEIVER
The Cowboys cut Lucky Whitehead after he is linked to a shoplifting incident.
OXNARD, Calif. — The Dallas Cowboys have released receiver and kick returner Lucky Whitehead after the third-year player was linked to a shoplifting arrest in his home state of Virginia, with his agent saying he believes it was a case of mistaken identity.
Whitehead said he “didn’t know about that” as he was escorted off the field by a member of the Cowboys’ public relations staff after the first morning walkthrough practice of training camp Monday in Oxnard, California.
Prince William County Police Sgt. Jonathan Perok said 25-year-old Rodney Darnell Whitehead Jr. was arrested around 1:30 a.m. June 22 for taking about $40 worth of food and drink from a convenience store.
Perok said he couldn’t confirm that the man arrested was the Dallas receiver, but online records matched his name and birthdate. The Cowboys’ media guide lists Whitehead’s given first name of Rodney.
Whitehead’s agent, Dave Rich, denied that his client was arrested, saying he didn’t arrive in Virginia until about 10 hours after the arrest. Rich said Whitehead denied being arrested.
The Cowboys moved swiftly in releasing Whitehead after two defensive players were arrested during the offseason.
Cornerback Nolan Carroll was arrested on a drunken-driving charge in May, and linebacker Damien Wilson on aggravated assault charges in July. Star running back Ezekiel Elliott was involved in a bar fight in Dallas last week, but wasn’t named in the police report.
COLTS: Andrew Luck’s surgically repaired right shoulder will keep him out for the start of training camp. How much more time he’ll miss is still unclear.
General manager Chris Ballard told reporters Monday that the team’s franchise quarterback would go on the physically unable to perform list when players report to camp Saturday.
“I want to make this very clear: Andrew has not had a setback. This is all part of the process,” Ballard said. “The long-term prognosis is very good and that is very positive. We are going to follow the doctors’ orders and the process.”
BEARS: Chicago linebacker Jerrell Freeman saved a man from choking at a Texas airport over the weekend.
Freeman tells the Chicago Tribune that he was eating at a restaurant in the Austin airport while awaiting a flight to Chicago on Sunday when he noticed a man frantically running around a neighboring table. A woman recognized the man was choking and tried the Heimlich maneuver, but Freeman says she wasn’t forceful enough to dislodge the food stuck in the man’s airway.
Freeman says he rushed in like he was “ready to make a tackle” and successfully performed the maneuver.
The man told him his name, Marcus Ryan, before the pair posed for a picture that Freeman posted on Twitter.
PACKERS: Training camp has yet to begin and team president Mark Murphy is already looking forward to the end of the season.
Finishing the year at the Super Bowl, which is being played in Minneapolis at the home of the NFC North rival Vikings, would be quite a treat for Packers fans.
“I tell you it’s going to be a lot of fun this year for all our fans to drive across the state of Wisconsin,” Murphy joked at the Packers’ annual stockholders meeting.
This was no chest-thumping guarantee, just a good-natured comment from Murphy to the roughly 7,000 people who sat through the 90-minute meeting on a sunny day at Lambeau Field. These die-hard Packers fans took no issue with the statement.
“It certainly wasn’t a guarantee. It was just that it would be really nice to play in a Super Bowl in Minneapolis,” Murphy said. “I hear form fans all the time in western Wisconsin … Minneapolis is a great city and the new stadium is really pretty spectacular. It will be a really nice Super Bowl.”
BRONCOS: Instead of delivering hits to ball carriers, David Bruton Jr. is hitting the books.
The former Denver safety and special teams ace who announced his retirement Monday after eight seasons in the NFL wants to become a physical therapist.
He began taking prerequisite courses at the University of Colorado-Denver in January and will enter physical therapy school next fall, putting him on pace to get his license by 2022.
VIKINGS: Minnesota Vikings placed running back Latavius Murray on the physically unable to perform list Monday, and put defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd on the non-football injury list.
Murray was signed away from Oakland for a three-year, $15 million deal as a free agent, with $8.55 million guaranteed. But he missed the entire offseason program following ankle surgery in March. The Vikings said they were aware he needed the surgery when they signed him.
Floyd missed all but the 2016 opener after having right knee surgery and then experiencing complications in his recovery.
EAGLES: Philadelphia has signed Canadian rugby star Adam Zaruba to a threeyear contract.
Zaruba had a tryout on Sunday. He wasn’t on the field for the start of training camp Monday and won’t be able to return until he’s granted a visa.
The 26-year-old Zaruba will play tight end. He is 6-foot-5 and 265 pounds. Zaruba played football at Carson Graham Secondary School in Vancouver before turning to rugby, and joined the national team by 2014.
Zaruba helped lead the Canada Sevens to a bronze medal at the World Series tournament in London in May.