The Miami Dolphins announced Ryan Tannehill as its starting quarterback Monday for the team’s season-opener at the Houston Texans.
“This is the best decision we can make at the given time,” coach Joe Philbin told ESPN.com.
Tannehill, the eighth overall pick in the 2012 draft, completed 11 of 23 passes for 100 yards against the Carolina Panthers on Saturday night.
Free-agent David Garrard entered training camp as the favorite to start at quarterback, but hasn’t played since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery earlier this month.
—Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali was suspended for the 2012 regular-season opener for a violation of the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.
The NFL announced Hali was suspended for the Sept. 9 game against the Atlanta Falcons and fined an additional game check.
Hali is the Chiefs’ top pass rusher, with 26.5 sacks and eight forced fumbles in the past two seasons.
He signed a five-year, $60 million deal in August 2011 after a breakthrough season in 2010. He led the AFC with 14.5 sacks in the last year of his five-year rookie contract.
—Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant injured his knee during Monday’s practice against the San Diego Chargers, and will have an MRI.
Bryant joins Miles Austin and Jason Witten on the list of injured starting options for quarterback Tony Romo. Witten is out with an injured spleen, while Austin is dealing with lingering hamstring issues.
Bryant had caught two passes for 15 yards on three targets before leaving. Bryant had previously dealt with a hamstring injury this summer.
—The Bills released defensive end Shawne Merriman, who has battled injuries for the past three seasons.
Merriman was cleared to return to practice in late May and said he was as healthy as he has been since 2008. But he was ineffective transitioning from outside linebacker to defensive end while playing opposite Mario Williams, and cut with one year remaining on the two-year, $10,5 million deal he signed in 2011.
Merriman, 28, had early-season surgery to repair his Achilles’ tendon in 2011 and has only one quarterback sack in eight total games the past two seasons.
— Browns running back Trent Richardson is likely to practice early next week, which should give the rookie first-round pick just under three weeks to prepare for the regular-season opener Sept. 9 against the Eagles.
The team is hopeful Richardson will recover from Aug. 10 knee surgery in time for Week 1, but he has ground to make up physically and in his knowledge of the playbook.
Dr. James Andrews removed a piece of loose cartilage from Richardson’s left knee during an operation the morning the Browns opened the preseason in Detroit.
—In the aftermath of right tackle Wayne Hunter struggling against the Giants in Saturday’s preseason loss, Jets head coach Rex Ryan wouldn’t commit to Hunter remaining a starter.
“I’m not painting myself into a corner,” Ryan said on Monday.
The Jets released offensive tackle Stephon Heyer, the latest offensive tackle to fail to take advantage of the open competition to find a starting right tackle.
—Former New Orleans Saints special teams player Steve Gleason said former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was out of line when he became graphically specific by naming players and specific injuries in a team meeting before the Jan. 10 playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Gleason, documented by HBO “Real Sports” for an interview scheduled to air Tuesday, was present in the San Francisco-area hotel along with filmmaker Sean Pamphilon, who released the audio of Williams’ speech in which he maliciously called for players to focus on wide receiver Kyle Williams, quarterback Alex Smith, running back Frank Gore and tight end Vernon Davis, among others.
“The real problem,” Gleason said, “was no one seemed shocked. There was no discussion of ‘Wow. Did we just hear that?’”
—NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus offered wide receiver Dez Bryant’s advisor cash and a flight on his private jet to Miami in text messages from December 2009 to January 2010, according to Yahoo Sports.
Personal advisor and father figure David Wells, with whom Bryant lived for parts of his high school and college days, told Yahoo! Rosenhaus first offered $10,000 in December 2009 and increased his offer when Wells didn’t respond. Bryant first signed with Eugene Parker but eventually signed with Rosenhaus in 2011. He was a first-round pick out of Oklahoma State but recently fired him.
Wells shared the messages he claims are from Rosenhaus and Yahoo! reported match a number it has on file for the Miami, Fla.-based agent who represents more than 130 NFL players.
The text messages would be violations of the NFL’s rules on contact with college athletes.
—The Chicago Bears signed safety Mark LeGree to a one-year contract Monday, and waived linebacker Ronnie Thornton.
LeGree, a fifth-round pick in 2011 by the Seattle Seahawks, spent parts of the 2011 season on the practice squads of the Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets.
—The Giants players involved in the Internet video showing cornerback Prince Amukamara getting thrown into a tub of ice by teammate Jason Pierre-Paul said it was typical horseplay, although coach Tom Coughlin deemed it necessary to address his team about it, ESPN.com reported on Monday.
Coughlin warned his players not to do anything that would adversely affect the team, but there was no indication that anyone would be fined or disciplined.
The video shows Pierre-Paul carrying Amukamara on his shoulder and tossing him head-first into the ice tub. Insensitive an obscene language is used during the video.
Amukamara, Pierre-Paul and Steve Weatherford, who tweeted the video over the weekend, said the video was not an example of bullying or hazing.
“Training camp is full of a lot of fun and a lot of pranks, and that is where you build a lot of team chemistry,” Amukamara said, according to ESPN.com. “And that is how we get along as a team, and it kind of got out of hand. There was just a lot of roughhousing and a lot of rough play.”
—The Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday acquired wide receiver Jordan Shipley, who had been waived by the Bengals on Friday.
Shipley had 54 catches for Cincinnati in 2010 as a rookie, but he had just four receptions while playing only two games in 2011 because he tore his anterior-cruciate ligament early in the season.
—It appears 49ers running back Brandon Jacobs may be ready for the regular-season opener despite suffering a knee injury in Saturday’s preseason game.. Jacobs underwent an MRI that revealed no significant knee damage. His injury was classified as a medial collateral strain.
Jacobs was on crutches on Monday, but running back LaMichael James, who injured his ankle on Saturday, was back at practice on Monday.
“Brandon for the opener is possible,” coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters Monday. “Again, we’ll just how to see how the treatment goes, how the body responds.”
—Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is not scheduled to play in Monday’s preseason game against the Eagles, the Boston Herald reported, based on a source.
The team is resting Brady and several other key healthy players because of the schedule facing the team this week. They travel to Tampa on Tuesday and will have two joint practices with the Buccaneers before playing the Bucs in a preseason game Friday.
Brady may be fully involved in pregame warmup Monday, however.
—Wide receiver Austin Collie suffered a concussion against Pittsburgh, the Colts confirmed Monday.
“He came in today, felt really good, was examined by the doctors and basically is going to be day-to-day,” coach Chuck Pagano said. “He felt really good coming out of the game this morning after being evaluated today.”
It remains a concern for Collie, who made it through 2011 after dealing with a history of concussion issues.
—Rookie Cordy Glenn has won the Bills’ starting left tackle job. The second-round pick has received the bulks of the snaps over Erik Pears with Chris Hairston moved to right tackle.
Glenn played guard and tackle at Georgia, starting 50 games of the 53 in which he played.