Esiason Joins Cardinals; Redskins Land Gilbert

The Arizona Cardinals signed one aging quarterback Monday and got rid of another, signing Boomer Esiason and releasing Dave Krieg.

Esiason, who turns 35 next week, had called the Cardinals and lobbied for the job. He spent the last three years with the New York Jets, who had made it clear they wouldn’t re-sign him after spending $25 million over five years for Neil O’Donnell.

Terms weren’t disclosed, but Esiason told the Cardinals he would play for far less than the $2.4 million he was paid last year by the Jets.

“A lot of quarterback situations were set, realistically, and this was a team that would fit for me,” Esiason said. “I didn’t want this opportunity to pass me by.”

Krieg was due to make $1.3 million, and Coach Vince Tobin acknowledged the Cardinals would save money while using Esiason as a mentor for Kent Graham and Stoney Case.

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The Washington Redskins bolstered one of the NFL’s worst defensive lines when they finalized a trade for St. Louis Rams’ Pro Bowl defensive end Sean Gilbert.

The Redskins, 29th out of 30 teams against the run last season, traded their first-round draft pick--the sixth overall pick in this month’s NFL draft--to St. Louis for the 6-foot-5, 310-pound lineman.

The Rams reportedly want Nebraska running back Lawrence Phillips with the pick. However, to get Phillips, they may have to package the sixth pick with their own first-rounder, the 13th overall, and trade it to either Arizona, No. 3, or the Jets, who pick first. Baltimore reportedly wants to take Phillips with the fourth pick.

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The Philadelphia Eagles signed a one-year, $300,000 deal with former San Diego Charger receiver Mark Seay over the weekend.

College Basketball

Marshall hired Greg White, a former player at the school and a UCLA assistant last season, to a five-year contract as its new coach. White, 37, was the head coach at Division II Charleston for five seasons before going to UCLA.

The entire Long Beach State men’s team, in a closed-door meeting with senior school athletic officials, endorsed assistant Clyde Vaughan for the 49ers’ vacant head coaching position.

St. John’s hired former Manhattan coach Fran Fraschilla as head coach. In six years at Manhattan, Fraschilla had a record of 85-35. . . . Valparaiso Coach Homer Drew, who led the Crusaders to their first NCAA tournament appearance this past season, has agreed to a contract extension.

Tennis

Venus Williams, 15, was forced to retire because of an inflamed hip during her first-round match against Germany’s Veronika Martinek in the Bausch & Lomb championships at Amelia Island, Fla. . . . Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands won his opening-round match at the Salem Open at Hong Kong, outlasting Britain’s Greg Rusedski, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Russian Alexander Volkov defeated Carl Chang, older brother and coach of Michael Chang, 6-4, 7-5. . . . Gilbert Schaller of Austria was eliminated by Spain’s Jordi Burillo, 6-3, 5-7, 6-0, in the first round of the Estoril Open in Portugal.

Miscellany

Jessica Foschi, the teenage swimmer who tested positive for steroids last summer in a case that brought international reaction, has been cleared of all charges by an arbitration panel.

The American Arbitration Assn. decision means Foschi, 15, can compete with a clean slate and without undergoing periodic drug tests imposed as part of a two-year suspension by U.S. Swimming.

Rancho Cucamonga Quake pitcher Matt LaChappa remained in critical condition at San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland.

Three years after leaving an assistant coaching position at Notre Dame to become USC’s first women’s soccer coach, Karen Stanley resigned to accept a teaching and coaching position at Santa Rosa Junior College.

Cal State Fullerton President Milton A. Gordon has been elected vice chairman of the Division I subcommittee of the NCAA President’s Commission.

Kennedy High pitcher Derek Morse (7-0, 1.40 earned-run average, 53 strikeouts in 45 innings) has committed to Cal State Northridge.

Florence Griffith Joyner is under doctors orders to rest at home for one week after suffering from seizure-like symptoms caused by sleep deprivation while on a flight last Thursday.