Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
Police ID’d Kamara as felony suspect before Pro Bowl
Police learned Saturday that New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara was a suspect in a pre-dawn beating of a man at a Las Vegas nightclub, but did not arrest Kamara until after Sunday’s NFL Pro Bowl, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department spokesman acknowledged Monday.
The alleged victim in the attack was treated for facial injuries at a Las Vegas hospital, where he told patrol officers that the incident occurred about 10 hours earlier, according to a police department statement.
“There was a delay in reporting due to the victim receiving treatment,” the statement said.
The name of the victim, his hometown and a motive for the alleged attack won’t be made public immediately, Officer Larry Hadfield said.
Kamara, one of the top running backs in the NFL, is charged with felony battery resulting in substantial bodily harm.
Detectives went to the Cromwell hotelcasino, home to the rooftop Drai’s After Hours club on the Las Vegas Strip, to identify Kamara, but did not immediately contact him, Hadfield said.
“It was known that (Kamara) would be participating in the Pro Bowl,” the department statement said.
Kamara was interviewed and arrested at Allegiant Stadium after Sunday’s game, which started at noon local time, and taken to the Clark County Detention Center.
Court and jail records showed Monday he posted bond and was released with a March 8 court date.
A conviction on the felony charge could result in a sentence of one to five years in state prison.
Kamara had four catches for 23 yards for the NFC in the Pro Bowl, which the AFC won, 41-35. This season for the Saints, he had 1,337 yards from scrimmage and nine touchdowns on the way to being picked for his fifth Pro Bowl in five seasons.
Source: 49ers hire Lynn as assistant head coach: The San Francisco 49ers are hiring former Chargers coach Anthony Lynn as their assistant head coach.
A person familiar with the move said
Friday that Lynn will join coach Kyle Shanahan’s staff in San Francisco. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team hadn’t announced the hiring. ESPN first reported the hiring.
Lynn brings a strong background in the run game to Niners and has experience working with running quarterbacks which will be beneficial with San Francisco expected to turn the offense over to Trey Lance next season.
Lynn played six seasons as a running back in the NFL, including with the Niners in 1995 and ‘96. He also played in Denver under Shanahan’s father, Mike, where he began his coaching career as an assistant in 2000.
He later worked as an assistant in Jacksonville, Dallas, Cleveland, the Jets and Buffalo, where he served as offensive and interim head coach in 2016.
Lynn then was hired as head coach by the Chargers in 2017 and had a 33-31 record in four seasons.
Lynn spent last season as offensive coordinator for Detroit.
Bears hire 49ers’ Hightower as special teams coordinator: The Chicago Bears hired Richard Hightower as special teams coordinator under new coach Matt Eberflus on Sunday.
Hightower spent the past five seasons as San Francisco’s special teams coordinator and has 15 years of NFL coaching experience. He replaces Chris Tabor in Chicago, where Hightower was assistant special
teams coach on John Fox’s staff in 2016.
Special teams played a big role in San Francisco’s NFC championship game run this season. The 49ers blocked a punt and returned it for a tying touchdown in the fourth quarter of their divisional-round game at Green Bay, and former Bear Robbie Gould kicked the winning field goal. San Francisco also blocked a field goal by Green Bay at the end of the first half.
The Bears now have all three coordinators in place, with Hightower joining offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and defensive coordinator Alan Williams.
The Bears also hired James Rowe as defensive backs coach on Friday.
Congress questions independence of NFL’s Washington probe: An investigation into sexual harassment of women employed by Washington’s NFL franchise was not as independent as the team and the league claimed, members of Congress said Friday.
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform released documents that showed the league and the team, now known as the Commanders, agreed to pursue a “joint legal strategy” related to the probe.
The private agreement was signed days after the league said it had taken over an investigation of the team initiated by owner Dan Snyder. It stipulated that any information exchanged as a result of the investigation was privileged and could not be shared without the consent of both the NFL and the team.
However, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement Friday that the league, and not the team, would determine what information from the investigation could be released.
The committee also found that the team and Snyder agreed that attorney Beth Wilkinson’s firm, which conducted the investigation, would produce a written report, but that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell asked Wilkinson to present her findings to him orally instead.
The investigation found a pervasive culture of sexual harassment and mistreatment of female employees of the team, confirming reports that first emerged when former employees spoke to The Washington Post in 2020. The NFL fined the team $10 million and Snyder temporarily ceded day-to-day control of the franchise to his wife, Tanya.
The league claimed when issuing its punishment that none of those known to have mistreated women was still employed by the team, but former employee Tiffani Johnston contradicted that claim Thursday when she told Congress that Snyder sexually harassed her. Snyder denied Johnston’s allegations, calling them “outright lies.” The NFL said it would look into that new allegation.
In a statement released by the Com