Bengals Trade Dillon to Patriots

Cincinnati running back Corey Dillon got his wish Monday, leaving a Bengal team that hasn’t had a winning record in 13 years. The running back wound up on a championship team.

Dillon was traded to the New England Patriots for a second-round pick, the 56th overall of the draft, ending his stellar and stormy career with Cincinnati.

“I think everybody pretty much broke even,” Dillon said. “We’re talking about the New England Patriots. They’re the defending Super Bowl champs. They got exactly what they wanted. I guess Cincinnati got exactly what they wanted. Corey Dillon got exactly what he wanted. I’m happy.”

Dillon, 29, who had rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first six seasons, was slowed by a groin injury last season and finished with 541 yards in 138 carries. He groused about his lack of carries and lobbied for a trade while the Bengals rose with Coach Marvin Lewis.

The Patriots had the league’s 27th-ranked rushing attack.

Dillon, who said his groin is fine, agreed to restructure the last two years on his contract, softening the Patriots’ salary cap hit for 2004.

Lewis said in a statement: “You don’t get a second-round pick without giving something up, and we believe this clearly is the move that’s in our team’s best interests.”

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Kurt Warner has been told by the St. Louis Rams that he will be cut after June 1, the quarterback’s agent told the New York Daily News. Mark Bartelstein, Warner’s agent, said that the Rams gave the two-time most valuable player permission to contact other teams and that the process has begun.

By waiting until after June 1, the Rams could reduce the hit on their salary cap, with Warner costing them $4.6 million this year and $6.7 million next year.

“Does he have to find a starting job to be happy? We’re going to keep an open mind,” Bartelstein told the newspaper. “Most teams today have their starting quarterback set.”

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New England cornerback Ty Law, 30, was arrested in Miami after a chase that began when police pulled him over for driving his Rolls Royce in the wrong lane. Authorities said Law stopped, then sped off.

When officers caught up to Law and tried to handcuff him, he told police “not to touch him, because he is a professional athlete,” the report said. He was charged with failing to obey a police officer and resisting an officer without violence, both misdemeanors. He posted $1,500 bond.

Team spokesman Stacey James said the team is aware of the arrest and had no other comment.

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Free-agent wide receiver Oronde Gadsden was charged with driving under the influence in Pembroke Pines, Fla., in the early morning hours.

Gadsden, whose license was already suspended, posted $3,000 bond.