74 More NFL Players Return

With hopes for a quick settlement dashed, defections from union ranks topped 200 today as 74 more players, a single-day high, returned to their teams.

They included 11 Raiders, 14 Cleveland Browns and Lawrence Taylor, the NFL’s Most Valuable Player last year. That brought to over 200 the veterans who have returned in the NFL strike’s 23 days, representing 14% of the 1,585 players under union jurisdiction. The returning Raiders included starting quarterback Rusty Hilger, kicker Chris Bahr and starting linebacker Jerry Robinson.