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Sports
Mike Evans Is 2nd Highest Paid WR In NFL With New Contract
Tampa Bay Buc WR Mike Evans will make $16.5 mil- lion a year.
Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans has agreed to a five-year, $82.5 million contract extension that makes him the second-highest paid receiver in the NFL behind Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown.
The deal was confirmed on Friday includes $55 million guaranteed and also makes Evans the highest-paid player with the Bucs with an average annual salary of $16.5 million.
Evans acknowledged the extension, which runs through 2023, in an Instagram post, noting he will be “spending the next several seasons in Tampa Bay” with a singular focus on helping the Bucs win a Super Bowl.
The 24-year-old entered the league as the seventh overall pick in the 2014 draft. He has topped 1,000 yards receiving in each of his four pro seasons, amassing 309 receptions for 4,579 yards and 32 touch- downs.
New England Patriot Players
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From 3 Super Bowls File
Suit Due To Brain Injuries
New England Patriots players from the first three Super Bowl teams are part of a class-action lawsuit against the NFL and helmet maker Riddell alleging that they have symptoms of brain in- juries caused by repetitive blows to the head during games and practices, accord- ing to a report.
In total, more than 340 former Patriots or their es- tates have sued the NFL and Riddell over brain injuries since the team was founded in 1960, including a number of Hall of Famers, the Boston Globe reported on Saturday.
There are 42 players in the recent lawsuit filed.
In 2015, NFL teams agreed to pay about $1 billion to settle brain-injury claims by nearly 5,000 ex players in the suit – and an unknown number of Patriots are among more than 15,000 former players who have registered for potential benefits as part of the settlement, the report said.
Riddell was not part of the settlement and continues to challenge the lawsuit.
Using the team’s rosters, the Globe compiled a list of Patriots who say they suffered brain damage.
They include Hall of Famers Nick Buoniconti, Raymond Clayborn,
The youngest Patriot suffer- ing from what most feel are brain injuries due to football is Randall Gay, who retired at 29. He is a practicing attorney now, but says he suffers from de- pression. Here he is tackling Plaxico Burress in the Super Bowl in 2008.
Steve Grogan and Babe Parilli.
Eight players, including Junior Seau and Mosi Tatupu, were diagnosed after their deaths with CTE, Chronic Traumatic En- cephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease caused by repet- itive brain trauma.
Randall Gay, youngest Patriot to play int he 2005 Super Bowl, retired in 2011 at 29 after suffering mul- tiple concussions.
The 35-year-old Gay has graduated from law school and is a practicing attorney with his wife, Desha, in Louisiana, but he said he has bouts of depression and other symptoms he believes were caused by football injuries.
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UConn Fires Its Head Coach Amid Violation Allegations
It was all good five years ago.
Now, U-Conn head coach, Kevin Ollie is now unem- ployed.
Once the apple of every- one's eye, the then 40-year- old had guided UConn to a national championship in his second-year at the helm.
A 13-year NBA veteran, Ollie was fired Saturday morning.
Ollie is set to have a hear- ing with UConn athletic di- rector David Benedict within the next two weeks, as the fight over the $10 million remaining on his contract gets underway.
Michael Bailey, execu- tive director of UConn’s chapter of the American As- sociation of University Pro-
Kevin Ollie has been fired by UConn’s AD due to a pending NCAA investigation, centered on impermissible summer work- outs.
fessors, of which Ollie is a member, filed his formal re- quest for a hearing on Ollie’s behalf on Saturday, so by the terms of the collective bar- gaining agreement, it must happen by March 25.
UConn announced Satur- day morning it had “initiated
disciplinary procedures to terminate” Ollie’s employ- ment for “just cause.” The men’s basketball program is the subject of an NCAA inves- tigation, the findings of which have not been re- leased. The infractions the school will cite are believed to center on impermissible summer workouts.
Ollie is signed through 2021 at more than $3 million a year; if he is fired for just cause, the university would not have to pay. If just cause cannot be established, Ollie would have to be paid in full, unless a settlement is reached.
Late Saturday, Ollie re- leased a statement to ESPN indicating he would contest UConn’s decision.
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