Bruce Smith to head Va. Tech draft tribute
NFL career sacks leader and former Bills star defensive end Bruce Smith will announce Buffalo's first-round pick in the draft today.
NFL career sacks leader and former Bills star defensive end Bruce Smith will announce Buffalo's first-round pick in the draft today.
Smith is making the announcement as part of a salute to Virginia Tech, following last week's massacre in which 32 people on campus were killed. Smith played college ball at Virginia Tech, and was drafted first overall by the Bills in 1985. Others with Virginia Tech connections to take part in the draft are Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick and cornerback DeAngelo Hall, and Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer.
The Bills have the No. 12 pick.
In other predraft news:
* NFL commissioner Roger Goodell apologized to prospects Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson and Clemson's Gaines Adams for the release of information from confidential interviews at the league's combine in February. A recent story in Pro Football Weekly said Johnson, Adams and Louisville's Amobi Okoye admitting experimenting with marijuana.
Noteworthy
* Chiefs defensive end Jared Allen was suspended by the NFL for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy, with two DUI charges in the last year, the Kansas City Star reported. The NFL declined to comment, and no suspension was announced.
* Falcons quarterback Michael Vick blamed family members after a police raid found evidence of dog fighting at property he owns in Virginia, where a relative lives. The Humane Society of the United States scoffed at that explanation, saying it's long suspected he was involved in dog fighting.
* Johnny Perkins, who caught 163 passes in a 7-year NFL career spent entirely with the Giants, died in Texas of complications following heart surgery. He was 54.
* Colts free-agent cornerback Jason David signed a 4-year contract with New Orleans for a reported $16 million, a cost the Colts considered too much under the $102 million salary cap. *