Off the wire

FOOTBALL

Brent released, with patch

Dallas Cowboys lineman Josh Brent is out of jail again, but under new conditions that include wearing a drug-detection patch at all times and not driving at all. Brent was freed Sunday morning on bond.

He’scharged with intoxication manslaughter in a December car crash that killed Cowboys practice squad player and close friend Jerry Brown. Brent was jailed June 27 after testing positive for marijuana a second time. Prosecutorshave filed a motion to have Brent’s $100,000 bond revoked after the two drug tests. The bond conditions approved by a judge Sunday include wearing a drug patch and not driving under any circumstances, in addition to previous alcohol monitoring. Prosecutors had no immediate comment. An attorney for Brent did not return phone messages.

LSU running back Jeremy Hill and another man were formally charged in Baton Rouge on Monday with misdemeanor simple battery in connection with a late-April scuffle in a bar parking lot. Hill and Robert Bayardo, who is not an LSU student, will be arraigned Friday, East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore said. The matter has put Hill’s 2013 season in doubt because LSU’s leading rusher last season is already on probation stemming from his January 2012 plea of misdemeanor carnal knowledge of a juvenile. Hill’s probationary status likely will not be reviewed by the court for possible revocation until the charges have been resolved, Moore said. State District JudgeBonnie Jackson in Baton Rouge already has placed more restrictive conditions on Hills’ probation since his April 27 arrest, including a 9 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew and a ban from bars. LSU Coach Les Miles has suspended Hill pending the outcome of the case. On Monday, LSU spokesman Michael Bonnette said he did not expect Miles or the university to have any further comment. Police have said evidence includes a mobile phone video which shows Hill throwing a punch to the side of the head of the victim. The video alsoshows Hill’s target being knocked out seconds later by Bayardo, who was initially booked with felony second-degree battery.

Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Justin Blackmon is recovering from groin surgery. Blackmon, who was limited during last month’s three-day minicamp because of a nagging groin injury, had surgery recently but could be back in time for training camp. The Jaguars report July 25 and begin on-field work the next day. Blackmon led the Jaguars with 64 receptions for 865 yards and five touchdowns last year. He has been suspended for the first four games of the 2013 season for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse program. He is eligible, though, to play in the team’s four preseason games, the first one against Miami on Aug. 9. Blackmon is the third Jaguars player to have groin surgery in the past two months, joining quarterback Jordan Rodgers and defensive end Jason Babin.

Victor Cruz decided there was no place like home with the New York Giants and home with his family and friends from Paterson,N.J. Rather than play under his one-year tender and try to become an unrestricted free agent in March, the wide receiver Monday signed a six-year deal worth $45.879 million that makes him a Giant through 2018. After sittingout the Giants’ offseason training activities, Cruz told agent Tom Condon to conclude negotiations with the team that gave him his chance as an undrafted free agent in 2010. “I just felt like it was time,” Cruz said Monday on a conference call. “I said, ‘I’m done with the back and forth. What’s on the table is a really good deal. I’m really excited about it, and it’s going to provide security for my family for a very long time. I felt like today was the day.” The deal actually is a five-year extension worth $43 million on top of his one-year tender of $2.879 million. It reportedly has $15.6 million of guaranteed money over the first two years, including an immediate signing bonus of $9.5 million. The six-year average of $7.65 million falls short of the $9 million-$10 million range Cruz was seeking, but the popular wideout didn’t want to face another year of contract questions or uncertainty about his future.

The organization that runs the Edward Jones Dome has made it official: The facility will not get a publicly funded $700 million upgrade that the St. Louis Rams requested. St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission President Kathleen Ratcliffe informed the Rams of the decision in a letter dated Tuesday. It was no surprise. After arbitrators ruled in favor of the Rams’ plan over a much more modest CVC proposal, the CVC said in February it was unlikely to implement the plan. The decision allows the Rams to break their lease with the dome after the 2014 season, creating the possibility that the Rams could leave St. Louis. The team’s offices were closed Friday for the long Fourth of July holiday and a spokesman was unreachable.

BASKETBALL

Knicks sign 1st-round pick

The New York Knicks made their first official signings of the offseason, inking first-round pick Tim Hardaway Jr. and rookie freeagent forward C.J. Leslie on Monday. Both will play on the Knicks’ summer league team, which begins practice tonight in Las Vegas. They open their summer league schedule Friday. Hardaway Jr., a 6-6 shooting guard, signed a four-year, $6.03-million deal. The first two years for $2.44 million is guaranteed for the No. 24 pick in the draft. The last two years are team options, as per the rules of the collective-bargaining agreement. Hardaway averaged 14.5 points and 4.7 rebounds and shot 37.4 percent on three-pointers as a junior at Michigan.

A person with knowledge of the decision says the Denver Nuggets have agreed to separate sign-andtrade deals that will land them guard Randy Foye from the Utah Jazz and send swingman Andre Iguodala to the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors had planned to sign Iguodala to a four-year, $48 million deal as a free agent last week. Instead, the restructured deal will give Golden State more salary cap flexibility, deliver Denver a $9 million trade exception and hand Utah another draft pick. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press on Monday because teams are not allowed to confirm moves until the new league year begins Wednesday, says the original Warriors-Jazz deal remains intact. The Warriors will clear more than $24 million by sending Richard Jefferson, Andris Biedrins and Brandon Rush to the Jazz along with the package of draft picks. Golden State is only taking back Kevin Murphy and his non-guaranteed $788,000 deal from Utah. Yahoo Sports, which first reported the new deal, says Foye will sign a three-year contract worth $9 million. m Rasheed Wallace, who played 21 games with the New York Knicks this past season before retiring because of a foot injury, will be an assistant coach on Maurice Cheeks’ staff with the Detroit Pistons.

New Clippers coach Doc Rivers has named his coaching staff, including Alvin Gentry, who returns for a third stint with the team. Gentry was named associate head coach, while Armond Hill, Kevin Eastman and Tyronn Lue will serve as assistants. JP Clark was hired as assistant players skill coach, completing a housecleaning of the staff that worked under former Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro.

HOCKEY

Rangers sign defenseman

New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who is part of the foundation of the team’s defense, signed a six-year contract extension worth $28.2 million. With the deal, McDonagh becomes the Rangers’ highest-paid defender. As a restricted free agent, he was in the final season of his three-year, $875,000 entry-level deal, plus performance and signing bonuses, which resulted in a salary-cap charge of $1.3 million. This agreement keeps him with the Rangers until he’s 30. It includes three seasons of what could have been unrestricted free agency and a limited no-trade clause. A former first-round pick of the Canadiens who attended the University of Wisconsin, McDonagh was acquired from Montreal in the trade for Scott Gomez in the summer of 2009. McDonagh averaged 24:21 on ice (second to Dan Girardi’s 25:24) and had four goals and 15 assists in 47 games last season. He added a goal and three assists in 12 playoff games. In 2011-12, a full season, he had seven goals and 25 assists.