Browns’ Stallworth suspended for season

From combined dispatches

Cleveland Browns receiver Donte Stallworth was suspended without pay for this season Thursday after pleading guilty to killing a pedestrian while driving drunk. He cannot participate in any team activities until his reinstatement after the Super Bowl.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Stallworth placed a “stain” on the reputation of the league and all its players.

Stallworth struck 59-year-old Mario Reyes on March 14 in Miami. He pleaded guilty June 16 to DUI manslaughter, a second-degree felony, and was suspended indefinitely by Goodell two days later.

Stallworth, 28, drew a 30-day jail sentence and reached an undisclosed financial settlement with the family of Reyes, who was leaving his crane operator job when he was struck.

In a letter to Stallworth released by the NFL, Goodell said he didn’t take into account the sentence in determining if the player violated the league’s substances of abuse and personal conduct policies.

49ERS: Shaun Hill is a big reason Mike Singletary became San Francisco’s coach and shed the interim tag. Not that it matters much now.

Singletary is going with Hill as the 49ers’ starting quarterback for their exhibition opener Friday night against Denver but insisted this is no hint whatsoever who will be under center come the regular season.

“Shaun Hill will start the game. I do not know who will start next week,” Singletary said.

McNAIR: A felon accused of selling the gun used to kill ex-NFL quarterback Steve McNair has been indicted on a firearm charge.

A federal grand jury in Nashville, Tenn., charged Adrian J. Gilliam Jr. with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Gilliam, of La Vergne, is accused of selling a loaded 9 mm pistol to McNair’s mistress, Sahel Kazemi, for $100 two days before McNair was shot.

Police said the 20-year-old waitress shot McNair at his downtown condo July 4 before turning the gun on herself.

PACKERS: Coach Mike McCarthy says the team is close to signing first-round draft pick B.J. Raji.

Raji has held out nearly two weeks of training camp. The former Boston College defensive tackle was drafted ninth overall.

McCarthy said he was told the two sides are nearing a deal, adding that he hoped to see Raji soon.

PATRIOTS: Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes in his first game since tearing ligaments in his left knee in Week 1 last year, leading New England to a 27-25 victory over the Eagles in the preseason opener in Philadelphia.

Brady ran well in the pocket and showed no lingering effects of his surgically repaired left knee. He threw two touchdown passes to tight end Chris Baker.

STEELERS: Isaac Redman, an undrafted rookie from Bowie State playing long after the starters for both Super Bowl teams left the field, scored twice in the fourth quarter and Pittsburgh beat the Arizona Cardinals 20-10 in a preseason opener at home.

Redman, a power back who hasn’t hesitated to take on some of the Super Bowl champions’ best linebackers in blocking drills, is listed as the No. 7 running back, yet he also scored twice in goal-line situations during the team’s only game-like night practice of training camp last Friday.