PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : NFC : Culverhouse Target of Plot

A planned vacation to Alaska may have saved former Tampa Bay Buccaneer president Gay Culverhouse from a $1-million kidnaping plot.

Defendant Ralph Gene Johnson, 45, admitted in federal court in Tampa, Fla., on Monday that as Culverhouse pulled into her driveway the night of July 19, 1994, he lurked in the dark, armed with a pistol, handcuffs and an elaborate getaway plan.

But when Culverhouse unexpectedly backed her car into the garage rather than park it outside as he had watched her do many times before, Johnson’s plan was foiled.

Johnson, who pleaded guilty to attempted extortion and other charges, faces sentencing on Dec. 14.

Culverhouse pulled into the garage because she was leaving on an Alaskan vacation the next morning and didn’t want to leave the car out while she was gone, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Page.

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Randall Cunningham says the Philadelphia Eagles’ owner assured him he is not being shopped to the Arizona Cardinals.

“Jeff Lurie doesn’t want me to leave,” the star quarterback said Tuesday. “He wants me to play here.”

Lurie denied reports that quoted Cardinal Coach and General Manager Buddy Ryan as saying the Eagles contacted him, offering Cunningham in a trade. Cunningham is in the last year of a six-year contract that will pay him $3.1 million this year.

“We’re not trying to trade Randall,” Lurie said, terming such talk “a lot of puffery.”

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The Eagles signed tackle Harry Boatswain and fullback Dexter McNabb to one-year contracts, filling slots on the roster opened by injuries.

Fullback Kevin Turner and tackle Lester Holmes injured their right knees in Sunday’s 31-19 victory over Arizona. Turner is out for the season, and Holmes will be sidelined five to seven weeks.

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Cardinal defensive tackle Eric Swann will be sidelined for six weeks after having torn cartilage removed from his injured right knee during arthroscopic surgery.

The team said the 6-foot-5, 295-pound lineman, a 1991 first-round draft choice who has missed 11 games in four years because of other knee injuries, would begin his rehabilitation today.

Meanwhile, Ryan said going six weeks without Swann would not increase his interest in signing free agent defensive end Richard Dent, the star of Chicago’s defense when Ryan was the coordinator for the Bears.

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The Bears said they are still talking with Dent, their all-time sack leader, about returning to the team.

Rod Graves, the Bears’ director of player personnel, said if Dent signed, it would probably be within a week and that it would take 10 to 14 days for him to get into playing shape. But he added that Dent could probably line up this Sunday. He would be used primarily in third-down pass-rushing schemes.

Dent, 34, played sparingly last season with San Francisco and was bothered by a knee injury.