Big Reward for Shanahan

Denver Bronco owner Pat Bowlen promised Coach Mike Shanahan that if he led the team to its first Super Bowl victory he would be rewarded with a new contract.

Shanahan claimed his reward when he agreed to a lucrative deal that nearly ensures he will remain in Denver--and remain one of the NFL’s five highest-paid coaches--for seven years.

The new contract calls for Shanahan to receive a base salary of more than $2.4 million this season, slightly exceeding the $2.4 million salary of New York Jet Coach Bill Parcells. Shanahan had averaged $1.2 million a season under his old contract.

Shanahan, who had four years remaining on his previous contract, struck the deal with Bowlen on Sunday, a day before his 46th birthday, The Denver Post reported Monday.

“This is a no-brainer,” Bowlen said. “I want him to run the football operation, and he ought to be compensated accordingly. By the time Mike finishes this contract, he’ll basically have had a 10-year stint in Denver. That’s really what I want.”

The contract also stipulates that if the salary of another NFL coach surpasses Shanahan’s, his average annual salary would be adjusted back into the top five in the league.

The Broncos also scored a exhibition victory Monday night, defeating the Green Bay Packers, 34-31 at Denver. Jason Elam’s 49-yard field goal with 3:10 remaining proved to be the winning points for the Broncos (3-0). The Packers fell to 2-2.

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Cornerback Rod Woodson returned a fumble 25 yards for a touchdown as the Baltimore Ravens improved to 3-0 in exhibition play with a 23-6 victory over punchless Philadelphia (1-2) at Baltimore. Eagle cornerback Bobby Taylor fractured his right shoulder blade in the game and will be lost for six to eight weeks.

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Mike Alstott scored on an eight-yard run and quarterback Trent Dilfer passed to Andrew Jordan for a touchdown as Tampa Bay (2-2) charged to a 20-0 halftime lead and defeated the Oakland Raiders, 41-7, at Oakland. The Raiders fell to 2-1.

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Kansas City Coach Marty Schottenheimer said he has met personally with Lawrence Phillips, but declined to say how close the Chiefs might be to signing the troubled running back.

“I’ve spoken with Lawrence,” Schottenheimer said after Monday’s practice. “We’ll make some decision in that regard pretty shortly.”

The Chiefs are becoming increasingly alarmed about their running game, missing its two top halfbacks from last season, Marcus Allen and Greg Hill.

A decision on Phillips, who has a history of off-field problems and has been released by the St. Louis Rams and Miami Dolphins, may come after the Chiefs see what running backs are available after this week’s mandatory roster cuts.

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Wayne Chrebet, an undrafted free-agent receiver three years ago from Hofstra, agreed to a four-year, $11.5 million contract with the New York Jets.

Chrebet caught 58 passes for 799 yards last season, primarily as a third-down receiver. He moves into the starting lineup this year after Jeff Graham was traded to Philadelphia.

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The Buffalo Bills released quarterback Todd Collins, who lost his starting job last season and became expendable when the team acquired Rob Johnson and Doug Flutie.

Collins, deemed Buffalo’s quarterback of the future after joining the Bills in 1995 as a second-round draft pick from Michigan, said the team could have released him before training camp started.

“Why they waited three weeks, I don’t know,” he said. “I was just wasting my time learning this offense.”

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The New York Giants’ Shaun Williams, a first-round draft pick out of UCLA, has been converted from safety to cornerback after Jason Sehorn’s season-ending knee injury.

The Giants had been working Williams as the nickel corner just to see if they could get him on the field a little more. That’s no longer an experiment. Conrad Hamilton has moved from the nickel back and taken Sehorn’s spot at right corner and Williams is the nickel back and the third corner.

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The Detroit Lions reinstated retired quarterback Frank Reich after cutting quarterbacks Jim Miller and Chris Dittoe.

Reich, 36, was 11 of 30 for 121 yards and two interceptions in six games last season. He returns to the Lions as the No. 3 quarterback behind Scott Mitchell and rookie Charlie Batch.

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Cam Cleeland, the New Orleans Saints’ second-round draft pick, missed practice and had a CAT scan to determine if a bone around the left eye was broken in a hazing last week at training camp in La Crosse, Wis.

Results were not available Monday.

Saint General Manager Bill Kuharich said all the rookies had pillow cases placed over their heads and were forced to run a gantlet of players in the third-floor hallway of the players’ dorm.

“It’s my understanding they were hit, elbowed, kicked, just about everything,” Kuharich said.

Cleeland’s father, Gene, reached at his home in Sedro Woolley, Wash., said if the injury is career-threatening, they would consider a lawsuit.

Coach Mike Ditka, who said he had asked his players not to haze rookies, was also upset that the ringleaders in the incident had not come forward and acknowledge it as he asked.

“What do you want me to do?” Ditka said. “There’s nothing I can do. If I knew who they were, I’d fine the heck out of them and probably try to get them off the team. And that would probably end up hurting us too.”

Meanwhile, defensive tackle Jeff Danish, a rookie free agent from Syracuse also injured in the incident, was waived.

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Wide receiver Jimmy Oliver, who had been a strong candidate to win a starting job in Dallas when training camp opened, was released by the Cowboys. Oliver was plagued because of injuries in training camp and also lost out in his attempt to win a job as a kick returner. . . . Kendrick Burton, a former Alabama defensive lineman suspended last season for an unspecified drug violation, was released by the Tennessee Oilers. . . . San Francisco 49ers tight end Greg Clark, sidelined because of a stress fracture in his right foot, is expected to miss the 49ers exhibition finale at Seattle on Friday and is questionable for the Sept. 6 regular season opener against the New York Jets. . . . Samuel V. Cooper, a lineman who was an original member of the 1933 Pittsburgh Steelers, died at 89 of complication from a stroke in Pittsburgh.