Packers Reach Deal With Woodson as Favre Stays

The Green Bay Packers followed their biggest off-season move with another Wednesday.

Hours after announcing that quarterback Brett Favre, 36, would return, the team reached agreement with free-agent defensive back Charles Woodson.

“The Green Bay Packers are very pleased that Brett has come to this decision and look forward to a successful 2006 season,” Packer General Manager Ted Thompson said in a statement.

Packer President Bob Harlan said he was delighted that Favre was coming back -- something he expected to happen, despite Favre’s four months of public wavering on the decision.

“I always said the calendar was working in our favor,” Harlan said. “If he was going to [retire], he would have told us in January.”

Favre had criticized the Packers’ lack of moves in the off-season and said the team -- coming off a 4-12 season -- needed to make a “statement” similar to the signing of Reggie White in 1993.

The team took a move in that direction with the agreement with Woodson, who has spent his NFL career in Oakland.

Woodson’s agent, Kevin Poston, said his client’s deal was for seven years and $52.7 million, including $10.5 million in the first year of the contract.

Thompson declined to comment.

Woodson, a four-time Pro Bowler, played eight seasons for the Raiders, intercepting 17 passes in 106 games.

The Packers also announced the signing of free-agent defensive tackle Kenderick Allen, who played in 14 games last season for the New York Giants.

The Minnesota Vikings released running back Onterrio Smith with at least six weeks left on his one-year suspension for violating league drug policy.

Smith, who has a history of drug problems dating to his college days at Oregon, had a legitimate chance to be the Vikings’ starter last season until his drug problems resurfaced.

In May, Smith was infamously caught at the Minneapolis airport with “The Original Whizzinator” -- a device designed to beat drug tests -- when his bag was scanned by security.

Smith claimed the kit was for his cousin, and he wasn’t charged by police. Mere possession of the device is not enough to break league rules.

But less than one month later, Smith received his latest suspension for a third violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

An assistant state attorney in Florida accused of using his prosecution of an assault case against Washington Redskin safety Sean Taylor to promote his work as a nightclub disc jockey resigned, the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office confirmed.

Michael Grieco stepped aside as the lead prosecutor in the case in early April because of the accusations.

Seahawk President Tim Ruskell said that talks with Mike Holmgren about the coach’s future with the team beyond this season are continuing.

Holmgren is in the final year of a $32-million, eight-year contract.

Safety Mike Logan re-signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers for one season. Receiver Sean Morey and linebacker Arnold Harrison also signed one-year contracts. Terms were not disclosed.

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Draft order

Parentheses indicate how many picks in that round:

*--* Team Rounds of other picks 1. Houston 2, 3 (2), 4, 6, 7 2. New Orleans 2, 4, 5, 6 (2), 7 (2) 3. Tennessee 2, 4, 5 (2), 6, 7 (4) 4. N.Y. Jets 2, 3 (2), 4 ( 2), 5, 7 5. Green Bay 2, 3, 4, 5 (2), 7 6. San Francisco 3, 4 , 5 , 6 (2), 7 (3) 7. Oakland 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 (2) 8. Buffalo 2, 3 (2), 4, 5 (2), 6, 7 (2) 9. Detroit 2, 3 , 5, 6, 7 (2) 10. Arizona 2, 3 , 4 , 5, 6 , 7 11. St. Louis 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (3) 12. Cleveland 2, 3, 4 (2), 5 (2), 6, 7 13. Baltimore 2, 4 (2), 5 (2), 6 (3), 7 14. Philadelphia 2, 3, 4 (3), 5 (2), 6, 7 15. Denver-a 2 (2), 3, 4 (3), 5, 6 16. Miami 3, 4, 7 (3) 17. Minnesota 2 ( 2), 3 (2), 4, 5, 6 18. Dallas 2, 3, 5, 6 , 7 19. San Diego 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (2), 7 (2) 20. Kansas City 2, 3, 5, 6(2), 7 21. New England 2, 3 ( 2), 4 (2), 5, 6 (3), 7 22. San Francisco-b 23. Tampa Bay 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (2), 7 (3) 24. Cincinnati 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (2) 25. N.Y. Giants 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 26. Chicago 2, 4, 5, 6 (2) 27. Carolina 2, 3 (2), 4, 5, 7 (2) 28. Jacksonville 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 29. N.Y. Jets-c 30. I ndianapolis 2, 3, 5, 6 (2) 31. Seattle 2, 4, 5, 7 (2) 32. Pittsburgh 2, 3, 4 (3), 5 (2), 6, 7

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a-from Atlanta; b-from Washington; c-from Denver