Shields fined in drug case

Former Green Bay Packers cornerback Sam Shields will pay a $500 fine after pleading no contest Monday to a misdemeanor drug charge.

Shields, 29, was found guilty of possession of marijuana based on an Oct. 19 incident.

After previously pleading not guilty, Shields changed his plea to no contest Monday. A charge of possessing drug paraphernalia was dropped as part of the plea.

Shields faced up to six months in jail.

Signed by the Packers in 2010, Shields suffered his fourth concussion in the 2016 regular-season opener. He spent several months on injured reserve before the team released him in February.

Sherman deal unlikely: As has often been the case for the past month, Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider had to address the latest about star cornerback Richard Sherman and his future.

From Schneider’s position, nothing the Seahawks have heard thus far leads him to believe that Sherman will be traded.

“Right now we’ve kind of moved past it and if somebody calls and goes crazy with something then we’ll discuss it again,” Schneider said. “I mean, the guy’s one of the top cornerbacks in the league. You don’t just give him away.”

The Sherman situation has hung over the Seahawks since Schneider first acknowledged last month that the club had trade discussions with other teams regarding the outspoken, former all-pro cornerback.

Long retires: Jake Long, the first overall pick in the 2008 draft and a four-time Pro Bowl left tackle for the Miami Dolphins, has decided to retire after a torn Achilles tendon ended his ninth National Football League season early with the Minnesota Vikings.

Long announced that a lack of progress on his latest rehabilitation has outweighed his desire to continue playing. He appeared in four games with the Vikings last year before getting hurt.