PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE NFL : Cowboys Settle on Sanders’ Contract

The Dallas Cowboys’ challenge to the settlement of Deion Sanders’ contract by the NFL and the players’ union was withdrawn Friday.

The settlement dramatically increased the effect of Sanders’ signing upon the club’s salary cap, and the Cowboys originally had challenged the authority of the NFL and players’ union to resolve salary cap issues.

Under the settlement, the Cowboys will be charged an additional $1.6 million against their salary cap over the next four years. And in 1998, when $7.25 million is scheduled to be charged against the Cowboys’ salary cap because of Sanders, the agreement provides that even if he is no longer with the club, the Cowboys still would be charged as much as $6.2 million against the cap.

The settlement also forbade the Cowboys from cutting any player on their active roster to make cap room this season.

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Nearly four weeks after he missed his trial date for drunk-driving and weapons charges, former NFL offensive lineman Carlton Haselrig was back in jail in Pittsburgh on Friday.

Haselrig, missing for several weeks after being suspended for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, was arrested in Marietta, Ga., on Dec. 19 for allegedly assaulting his estranged wife. He was transferred to Pittsburgh, where he had failed to appear for a trial on Dec. 4.