Per USA Today:

NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor has been arrested for rape in New York, according to a report from WCBS-TV in New York City.The former New York Giants linebacker was taken into custody early this morning by the Town of Ramapo police after being accused of raping someone in the Holidome Hotel in Montebello, north of New York City, WCBS said.

Ramapo Detective Lt. Brad Weidel told the AP that Taylor, 51, hadn’t been formally charged. He said charges will be filed when the police investigation is completed.

The Journal Newssays the alleged victim is a 15-year-old girl who was beaten. The Journal News also says it has learned Taylor will be charged with third-degree rape, which involves intercourse with a minor.

The station said a new conference is expected later today, where police will give more details.

Taylor’s troubled past includes repeated drug problems. He tested positive for cocaine in 1987 and in 1988 was suspended by the NFL for 30 days when he failed another test.

In an autobiography, Taylor admitted resuming heavy cocaine usage when he retired. He entered drug rehab twice in 1995, but later was arrested two times in three years for allegedly attempting to buy cocaine from undercover officers

In a November 2003 interview with 60 Minutes, Taylor said he spent thousands of dollars a day on narcotics at the peak of his drug abuse.

A 10-time Pro Bowler, Taylor was the NFL’s MVP in 1986 and the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1981, 1982 and 1986.

Per NY Post:

Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez seems to be getting on well with Jamie-Lynn Sigler. Spies saw the good-looking pair catching a performance of David Mamet’s “Race” at the Barrymore Theatre last Thursday night.

But earlier in the week, Sanchez was spotted by a different source dining with a hot blonde at Del Frisco’s steakhouse on Sixth Avenue. It looks like he’ll have his hands full this summer.

Per ESPN:

The Philadelphia Eagles have given quarterback Kevin Kolb another vote of confidence, extending his contract by one year, the team announced Thursday.

The deal is worth $12.26 million, all of it guaranteed, over the next two seasons. Kolb will receive a signing bonus of $10.7 million, a source close to the player told ESPN’s Matt Mosley.

Kolb, who became the Eagles’ starting quarterback when Donovan McNabb was traded to the Washington Redskins, was previously under contract through the 2010 season.

“I’m not trying to prove anybody wrong, I’m trying to prove this organization right for making this move,” Kolb said in a news conference. “I know there are a lot of expectations. When you get an extension and you get the starting quarterback position, regardless of where you’re at, there’s a lot of pressure and responsibility.”

Kolb spent his first three seasons with the Eagles behind McNabb, but stepped in when McNabb was injured in the season opener last year at Carolina. The 2007 second-round draft choice promptly became the first NFL quarterback to throw for 300 yards in his first two starts.

He threw for 391 yards against New Orleans and 327 yards a week later vs. Kansas City.

“We’re happy to have Kevin under contract for the next two seasons,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said. “When given the chance, Kevin has proven to have good command of this offense and we’re looking forward to having him operate as the No. 1 quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.”

His emergence made McNabb expendable, and the No. 2 overall pick in the 1999 draft was traded to the Washington Redskins earlier this month for a pair of draft picks.

Kolb, whose contract was set to expire at the end of this season, was glad an extension could be worked out before minicamp opens.

“I want to be here long term and I think the Eagles want me here long term,” Kolb said.

There was one hitch. The Eagles and Kolb did not work out a long-term deal because of the expiring collective bargaining agreement, meaning the two sides were restricted by a rule that limited annual raises in base salary to 30 percent.

The 25-year-old Kolb said minicamp begins what he hopes is a successful starting career with the Eagles. He recently became a father for the second time, adding to a whirlwind of an offseason. He feels the time is right to take control of a young offense that features blossoming receivers DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin.

“It will be a different feel but, at the same time, it feels right,” Kolb said. “It feels right to be the starter, it feels comfortable being out there doing the different things, running the practices that we’re running right now together.”

The Eagles also have Michael Vick on the roster. Vick played a limited role in short-yardage situations in his first year back in the NFL after sitting out two seasons for his role in a dogfighting operation.

This move guarantees there will be no competition for the No. 1 spot in training camp.

“I think everybody can kind of sense that there’s this united feeling between everybody,” Kolb said. “We’re all kind of young and even though we haven’t hit the field together yet as a core group, you can just kind of sense that we have this energy that we’re just going to go out there and prove a lot of people wrong.”

Per ESPN:

A chastened Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger accepted his six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy Monday and promised to “comply with what is asked of me — and more.”In his first comments since the NFL handed down the penalty last week, Roethlisberger apologized to his teammates and fans for his behavior last month in a Georgia bar, where a 20-year-old college student accused him of sexual assault.

“The commissioner’s decision to suspend me speaks clearly that more is expected of me. I am accountable for the consequences of my actions. Though I have committed no crime, I regret that I have fallen short of the values instilled in me by my family,” Roethlisberger said in the statement.

Roethlisberger was cleared of charges, but commissioner Roger Goodell cracked down on one of his biggest stars because “you are held to a higher standard as an NFL player, and there is nothing about your conduct in Milledgeville [Ga.] that can remotely be described as admirable, responsible, or consistent with either the values of the league of the expectations of our fans.”

The two-time Super Bowl winner said that while it will be “devastating” to miss games, “I will not appeal the suspension and will comply with what is asked of me — and more,” he said.

“I am sorry to let down my teammates and the entire Steelers fan base. I am disappointed that I have reached this point and will not put myself in this situation again,” Roethlisberger said. “I appreciate the opportunities that I have been given in my life and will make the necessary improvements.”

Roethlisberger is the first player suspended by Goodell under the conduct policy who hasn’t been arrested or charged with a crime. Goodell said the league’s conduct policy gave him the right to impose discipline regardless of whether Roethlisberger broke the law.

“In your six years in the NFL, you have first thrilled and now disappointed a great many people,” Goodell wrote. “I urge you to take full advantage of this opportunity to get your life and career back on track.”

The suspension can be reduced to four games if Roethlisberger completes an evaluation mandated by the league, any action that is mandated by that evaluation and he remains out of trouble. He can practice during training camp and play in preseason games, but cannot return to game action until at least Oct. 17.

Until now, he has sat out only eight games in six seasons due to injury or to rest up for the playoffs.

Goodell also said he has the right to extend the suspension if he learns of any additional problems.

Roethlisberger was not available Monday for further comment. Because he cannot work out or train with his teammates until the league clears him after behavioral evaluations, he will not take part in the team’s mandatory three-day minicamp this weekend.

Roethlisberger was cleared of charges because a prosecutor said the case was not strong enough to pursue, but the quarterback was rebuked by authorities, Goodell and Steelers president Art Rooney II. Georgia prosecutor Fred Bright was especially harsh, telling the quarterback, “Grow up … cut it out. You can do better.”

Roethlisberger also is being sued in a civil case in Nevada for an alleged sexual assault that occurred there in 2008. There were no charges brought in that case, and Rooney II said it did not factor in the NFL’s suspension.

This is the second such apology by Roethlisberger in three weeks. He read a similar statement on April 12 when he learned he would not be charged.

In her statement to police, the underage college student said Roethlisberger encouraged her and her friends to take numerous shots of alcohol. She was later escorted down a hallway at the nightclub, where she said the quarterback exposed himself. She said she tried to leave and went to a bathroom, but Roethlisberger followed her.

“I still said no, this is not OK, and he then had sex with me,” she wrote.

Rooney was so angry with Roethlisberger he wanted to suspend him before the league acted, but didn’t do so because the NFL players union could have appealed to a special master. The Steelers have since taken their first tentative steps toward reconciliation: director of football operations Kevin Colbert said the quarterback “deserves the opportunity” to rehabilitate himself.

Per ESPN:

Linebacker Jason Taylor is leaving the Miami Dolphins to play for the New York Jets, his agent, Gary Wichard, told multiple media outlets in South Florida.

League sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter that Taylor — the NFL’s active sacks leader with 127½ — agreed to a two-year deal that could be worth as much as $3.75 million in the first year.

The 35-year-old Taylor is tentatively scheduled to travel to the New York area on Wednesday to sign the contract, Wichard said.

Because of the Final Eight rules that restrict the Jets from signing Taylor for more in the first year than what kicker Jay Feely received from leaving the Jets to join the Cardinals, Taylor will be on the Jets’ books for $1.75 million in 2010, but he could earn another $1.25 million to $2 million depending upon his performance.

There is a second year to the contract that has a $750,000 guarantee, a source told ESPN.com’s John Clayton. The first year of the contract is guaranteed, so Taylor receives a $2.5 million guarantee in his deal. Taylor’s two-year deal could be worth a total of $13 million if he meets all the incentives in the contract.

Taylor had expressed a desire to remain with the Dolphins, where he has spent 12 of his 13 NFL seasons. However, Miami general manager Jeff Ireland said last week the team would wait until after the draft before deciding whether to make an offer.

“[The Dolphins] made no commitment to him,” Wichard told a Miami radio station. “And he made a total committment to [the Dolphins]. If there was an offer, I promise you he would have signed it last week…. His heart is down in South Florida. But at the end of the day, he wanted to play football.”

Taylor, the 2006 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, has had a contentious relationship with Jets fans during his 13-year career, calling them ignorant and classless.

“I think our fans would embrace him,” defensive end Shaun Ellis said last week when Taylor was visiting with the Jets. “They know the type of player he is. There may be some fans who wouldn’t at first, but after a few weeks and he was on our team, I think they’d be really excited just to add another part like that to our defense.”

Taylor played with the Dolphins from 1997 to 2007 before playing one season in Washington. He returned to Miami last season with a one-year contract and said he wanted to keep playing, preferably with the Dolphins, rather than retire.

“I know I can play,” Taylor said at an event for his foundation in January. “It’s just a matter of being in the right situation. It’s a business, and we’ll see what direction it takes us.”

Taylor is just the latest big-name player to be added by the Jets in a busy offseason. The team also signed running back LaDainian Tomlinson and traded for cornerback Antonio Cromartie and Santonio Holmes, who won a Super Bowl MVP award with the Steelers.

Holmes will be suspended for the first four games of the 2010 season due to a violation of the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.

Several Jets players met Taylor during his visit to the team’s facility in Florham Park, N.J., on April 8 and said they’d welcome him if he signed. The Jets showed him around the facility and took him on a helicopter tour of Manhattan and the new Meadowlands Stadium. Even Tomlinson was part of the recruiting process.

“I pitched my part in trying to get him here,” Tomlinson said two weeks ago. “Hopefully, things get done because we can definitely use him.”