Former Redskin Johnson Set to Sign With Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers got their man. Now they’ll find out if Brad Johnson is the missing piece in a championship puzzle.

Johnson agreed Monday to a five-year, $28 million contract with the Buccaneers, who outbid the Super Bowl-champion Baltimore Ravens for the former Washington Redskin, who was the most coveted free-agent quarterback. The deal includes a $6.5 million signing bonus.

Johnson, 32, joins a group of Tampa Bay quarterbacks, among them Shaun King, who led the team to a 10-6 record last season, and former first-round draft pick Ryan Leaf, who was waived last week by the San Diego Chargers and claimed by the Buccaneers.

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Free-agent defensive end Trace Armstrong, a 12-year veteran who has spent the last six seasons with the Miami Dolphins, signed with the Oakland Raiders. . . . The Detroit Lions agreed to a two-year contract with 37-year-old quarterback Jim Harbaugh. . . . The Dolphins, seeking to upgrade the quarterback position held last season by Jay Fiedler, talked with free agent Gus Frerotte. Frerotte’s agent said he had not been offered a contract.

Tiki Barber, who rushed for a career-high 1,006 yards last season and helped the New York Giants reach the Super Bowl, is close to an agreement on a reported six-year, $24-million contract to remain in New York. . . . Former Buffalo Bill quarterback Doug Flutie will interview with Charger coaches and executives today. . . . Chris Dishman, who played guard and center last season for the Arizona Cardinals, agreed to a three-year contract with the team.

Jurisprudence

Bail was set at $5,000 in New York for boxer Hector “Macho” Camacho, who was arrested early Sunday morning at a Manhattan nightclub on charges of cocaine possession.

Former Wisconsin running back Michael Bennett pleaded not guilty in Madison, Wis., to charges that he kicked in the door of a woman’s apartment.

Bennett, 22, faces charges of criminal damage to property and unlawful use of a telephone.

Sean Patrick O’Keefe, a former Utah football player charged with breaking a baseball bat on a teenager’s head, tearfully pleaded guilty in Salt Lake City to aggravated assault.

The charge carries a sentence of up to five years in prison. O’Keefe could face another five years for using a dangerous weapon. He will be sentenced April 16.

A judge in Syracuse, N.Y., dismissed resisting-arrest and obstructing-police charges against two Syracuse football players.

City Judge Thomas W. Higgins Jr., dismissed the charges against All-Big East Conference linebacker Clifton Smith and kicker Jason Mandler.

Miscellany

Olympic gold medalist and former Dallas Cowboy receiver Bob Hayes, 58, had his prostate removed after undergoing six weeks of radiation treatments for cancer.

Hayes’ sister, Lena Johnson, told the Dallas Morning News’ online edition that her brother has liver and kidney ailments, as well as the prostate cancer.

Hayes was listed in stable condition at an Irving, Texas, hospital.

Patrick Rafter rallied from 0-3 in the third set to defeat Magnus Gustafsson in a first-round match at the Citrix Tennis Championships in Delray Beach, Fla.

Rafter, the top seed, defeated the 34-year-old Swede, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, to advance to the second round against Czech Jiri Vanek, who ended hometown favorite Andy Roddick’s hopes with a 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 victory.

Car owner Chip Ganassi, winner of four consecutive CART championships and the winning owner in last year’s Indianapolis 500, will return to the Indy Racing League’s premier event in May with rookie drivers Bruno Junqueira and Nicolas Minassian, who replaced Juan Montoya and Jimmy Vasser on the team.

More than 2.6 million children and young adults playing sports end up in emergency rooms each year, at a cost of about $500 million, according to the government’s first comprehensive study of sports injuries.

One-quarter of all emergency room injuries to people ages 5-24 are caused by sports, the study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

Soccer authorities and the European Union agreed on a drastic overhaul of the sport’s transfer system, auguring the biggest change in the game since free agency in 1995. Among other things, the agreement sets a five-year limit on contracts, allows for one fixed transfer period a year, provides mechanisms to protect poor clubs, and specifies creation of an effective and objective arbitration body.