— NEW YORK — The Jets signed veteran quarterback Mark Brunell, who backed up Drew Brees last season for the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, to a two-year contract Wednesday.

The move had been expected for several months as New York sought an experienced quarterback to serve as a backup to Mark Sanchez. The Jets couldn’t sign Brunell until free agency restrictions were lifted last week on the final eight playoff teams.

He worked out for the Jets a few months ago and then a second time Wednesday, before they signed him later in the day.

Brunell, 39, played the last two years in New Orleans and the previous four with Washington after nine years with Jacksonville. The three-time Pro Bowl selection spent his first two years as Brett Favre’s backup in Green Bay.

The Jets had Kellen Clemens, Erik Ainge and Kevin O’Connell as backups last year, and at least one will likely be cut before training camp.

New York, which made it to the AFC championship game last season, was limited by the NFL’s “Final Eight” and “Final Four” plans. Until last week, the Jets were not allowed to sign an unrestricted free agent until one of their own signed elsewhere. When kicker Jay Feely signed with Arizona in April, the Jets used that opportunity to bring in Jason Taylor.

Brunell reportedly filed for bankruptcy last month because of failed real estate and other investments. The Florida Times-Union recently reported that Brunell owes $24.7 million in debts.

He has thrown for 31,928 yards and 182 touchdowns in 18 NFL seasons. Brunell was the 1997 Pro Bowl MVP, and shares the NFL record for most consecutive completions in a single game with 22, set in 2006 with Washington.

Brunell has started just one game in the last three seasons — the Saints’ regular-season finale last year — but the Jets aren’t looking for him to play much, if at all. He was brought to New York mainly to be a mentor to Sanchez, the second-year quarterback who helped lead the Jets to the AFC championship game as a rookie.

With 15 regular-season NFL starts, Sanchez had more experience than all three of his previous backups combined.





Rams sign Saffold, likely to start him on O-line

ST. LOUIS — Sam Bradford’s protection is now in place.

The St. Louis Rams announced Wednesday that they have come to terms with their second-round draft pick, offensive lineman Rodger Saffold. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Saffold, who was the 33rd player selected in April, is expected to play right tackle. Jason Smith, last year’s No. 1 selection and the second overall pick in 2009, has moved to left tackle.

Due to a knee injury and a concussion, Smith played in only eight games last year, starting five. The Rams will in essence be protecting Bradford, the No. 1 overall pick, with two untested players.

Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur seems unconcerned, however. He said Wednesday he is excited by what Saffold and Smith bring to the table.

“I think they’re young and talented, so we’re excited about what these guys can do,” Shurmur said. “They’ve got fresh legs and they’re really good players, so we anticipate they’re going to be very productive for a long, long time.”

Saffold started 41 of 42 games while at Indiana and earned second-team All-Big 10 honors as a senior when he allowed just three sacks on 440 pass plays.

Although Shurmur would not say for certain that Saffold would start right away, all signs point in that direction.

“At this point, we’ll see how it plays out,” Shurmur said. “We’ll put the best five guys out there and I would anticipate he’ll wind up playing tackle.”

Shurmur is taking a similar approach with Bradford, who has yet to sign. Shurmur likes what he has seen so far from the former Heisman Trophy winner.

“He did such a good job in the spring,” Shurmur said. “I’d like to be able to see him build on that.

“His challenge is to be ready to play Day 1. If that works out, great. If it takes a little bit longer, so be it. But I’m anticipating he’s going to build on what he did this spring.”

If Bradford is not ready from the beginning, the team will turn to 10-year veteran A.J. Feely, who has an extensive history with Shurmur from his days in Philadelphia.

The Rams rookies were set to report for training camp Wednesday afternoon. The full squad is due in on Saturday.

The Rams also said that they have signed sixth-round pick Fendi Onobun, a tight end from the University of Houston. Onobun played one season of college football after a four-year basketball career at the University of Arizona.





NFL retirees sue attorneys after suit settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — A groundbreaking legal case that seemingly concluded last year with the NFL players union agreeing to pay former players a combined $26 million for failing to look out for their commercial interests has now gone into overtime.

Several of those retired players, including Paul Hornung, John Brodie and Marvin Cobb, who believe the settlement should have been larger sued their attorneys last week in San Francisco federal court.

The disgruntled players accuse the law firms of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and McKool, Smith of failing to introduce during a 2008 trial a crucial piece of evidence.

The lawsuit also accused the law firms of excluding several retired players who should have been included in the official list of 2,062 former players who will share the settlement.

The case date backs to 2007 when the retired players sued the NFL Players Association.

The retired players accused the union of failing to actively pursue marketing deals on their behalf with video games, trading cards and others sports products. A jury agreed and ordered the union in 2008 to pay the players $28 million.

The case settled last year in exchange for the union dropping its appeal.

In the latest lawsuit, the disgruntled players say their lawyers failed to show the jury an e-mail chain between union officials and executives at Electronic Arts Inc., which makes the Madden NFL video games.

Part of the jury’s damage figure included $7.1 million it fined the union for failing to share proceeds of its $35 million annual contract with the game maker with any retired players. The e-mail chain quoted officials discussing the need to obscure the images of retired players appearing in “vintage games” in the Madden game series.

U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup declined to let the jury see the e-mail chain because the players’ lawyers hadn’t laid the proper “foundation” of evidence to show the messages were relevant. He said EA wasn’t on trial.

But the lawsuit alleges that the lawyers could have found a way to include the e-mail chain, which would have led to a bigger award.

“There was no good reason for this failure,” the lawsuit stated.

Maxwell Blecher, the lawyer who filed the most recent lawsuit, declined to comment.

“Our law firms are very proud of the jury verdict we won for our clients as well as the settlement that was approved by the court,” said Manatt lawyer Ron Katz. “We plan to defend ourselves in this case with the same integrity and determination we exhibited in the retired players’ case.”





Panthers reach deal with 2nd-round pick Clausen

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — The Carolina Panthers signed quarterback Jimmy Clausen to a four-year contract that includes $2.53 million in guarantees on Wednesday, ensuring they’ll have no rookie holdouts for the start of training camp.

The second-round pick from Notre Dame agreed to his deal hours before the Panthers reported to Wofford College. He was the last of Carolina’s 10 draft selections to be signed.

“With your draft picks, any day they miss it takes a week to catch up,” coach John Fox said. “I think it’s always important to have your draft picks signed. We’ve done pretty well with that over the years.”

Agent Gary Wichard and the Panthers worked through the night to reach a deal, which was struck after a fourth-year escalator — a rarity for a second-round pick — was included that tops out at $2.85 million. The total package could be worth as much as $6.3 million.

The deal was reached in time for Clausen to report on time. He was spotted walking into the dormitory while looking at his phone late Wednesday morning. He didn’t stop for reporters and the team didn’t make him available after an afternoon team meeting.

Clausen will likely start practice on Thursday as the third-string quarterback behind Matt Moore and Hunter Cantwell, but could eventually challenge Moore for the starting job. The Panthers released seven-year starter Jake Delhomme in the offseason.

“Has he signed? I don’t even know,” Moore said when asked about Clausen as he checked into camp. “It’s huge. That’s obviously the way you want it, so he can be here and not miss any meetings. That’ll be good for him, not to miss anything.”

Projected by many to be a top-10 pick, Clausen plunging to Carolina with the 48th overall selection in the draft. The fall cost him money, but he landed with a team that was looking for a QB of the future and one that runs the same pro-style offense he played under at Notre Dame.

Former Fighting Irish coach Charlie Weis once worked in New England with Panthers offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson.

The Panthers made room for Clausen on the 80-man roster by waiving linebacker Brett Warren.