Dolphins Suspend Collins, Say He Won’t Play Again This Season

Cecil Collins, the Miami Dolphin running back arrested Dec. 16 on burglary charges, was officially suspended without pay by the team Thursday.

Coach Jimmy Johnson said the organization has not paid Collins since his arrest. Collins allegedly climbed into a couple’s bedroom window at his apartment complex.

The suspension will prevent Collins from receiving the remainder of his 1999 salary and any bonus money he might have collected if the Dolphins make the playoffs.

“Nothing’s been determined as far as what actually happened,” Johnson said of the charges. “We have determined that he definitely will not play for us this year. If he ever plays for us after that, that’s to be determined later on.”

Collins was released on bail for the burglary charges and arrested a day later after a Louisiana judge issued a warrant for a probation violation. He has been in jail since, and is awaiting extradition to Louisiana, where he faces up to 20 years in prison.

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Orlando Brown, the first player in NFL history to be suspended for more than one game for contact with an official, remained hospitalized because of an eye injury. The Cleveland Brown offensive tackle could remain at Cleveland Clinic Hospital for the rest of this week, team spokesman Ken Mather said.

Brown was hit by a flag weighted with BBs and thrown by referee Jeff Triplette during Sunday’s game against Jacksonville. Brown returned to the field and knocked Triplette down with a two-handed shove to the chest.

On Wednesday, the NFL indefinitely suspended Brown for the rest of this season--Cleveland has only one game left--and possibly for part of next season.

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Rae Carruth’s new lawyers said the former Carolina Panther wide receiver won’t try to move any upcoming murder trial out of Charlotte despite intense media coverage of the case.

“I have no questions in my mind that the citizens there will wait and hear both sides of the issue, and that there are very good people there,” Carruth’s lawyer, Ken Spaulding, said.

Carruth and three other men are accused of first-degree murder in the drive-by shooting death of Cherica Adams, Carruth’s pregnant girlfriend. Police said Carruth organized the slaying.

Notes

Dolphin tight end Troy Drayton underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and will sit out Monday night’s game against the New York Jets. . . . Minnesota Viking free safety Orlando Thomas and cornerback Keith Thibodeaux were put on injured reserve, meaning their seasons are over. . . . Jacksonville Jaguar linebacker Kevin Hardy is expected to play Sunday against Tennessee despite suffering a neck injury last Sunday against Cleveland.