Seau to Retire After 16 Years

Junior Seau, a 12-time Pro Bowl linebacker who played with the San Diego Chargers and the Miami Dolphins during a 16-year NFL career, will announce his retirement today.

Seau will make the announcement at a news conference at Chargers Park this afternoon, the team said in a statement Sunday.

The 37-year-old Seau spent the last three seasons with Miami after being acquired from San Diego.

He was released by the Dolphins in March after sitting out 17 games the last two years because of injury. He finished both seasons on injured reserve, and an Achilles’ tendon injury limited him to seven games in 2005. Seau ended the 2004 season on injured reserve because of a torn pectoral muscle.

In spring 2003, the Chargers, feeling that Seau’s best years were behind him, allowed his agent to shop for a trade. Seau then was sent to Miami.

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Clinton Portis didn’t even want to be on the field for the first exhibition. Now, the dependable Redskins running back isn’t sure if he can be on the field when it counts.

Washington’s revamped offense took a significant jolt when Portis partially dislocated his left shoulder during a 19-3 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, leaving him sidelined indefinitely.

“Right now, it’s tough to say,” Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs said. “Obviously, it’s going to be a while.”

Portis ran for a club-record 1,516 yards last season, when Washington made the playoffs as a wild-card team, and was counted on to steady an offense retooled by assistant coach Al Saunders in the off-season.

Instead, Washington is wondering how long it will be without its best running back -- something Portis can’t comprehend.

Portis opened the game with an eight-yard carry, then blocked for Mark Brunell’s passes. When Brunell’s sixth throw was intercepted by cornerback Keiwan Ratliff, Portis ran him down and reached to make the tackle.

His left arm was extended when he hit Ratliff, momentarily knocking the bone part of the way out of the shoulder socket. An MRI exam confirmed the injury.

“After that eight-yard run, I was like, ‘Get me out of that game,’ ” Portis said. “That’s what I was thinking. It’s football. It can happen to anyone. It happened to me.”

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Former Minnesota Vikings receiver Randy Moss returns to the Metrodome tonight for the first time since the team traded him to the Oakland Raiders before last season.

The Raiders play the Vikings in an exhibition.

“It is going to be something special,” Moss said. “Hopefully, the Metrodome will sell out because I’m coming back, but I’m a Raider now.”

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Cornerback Gary Baxter is the latest Cleveland Browns starter to be sidelined by injury, but the team is optimistic he’ll be back for the regular-season opener Sept. 10 against New Orleans. Baxter strained his left pectoral muscle on the first play from scrimmage Thursday in Cleveland’s exhibition opener in Philadelphia. He could be out three weeks or more.