NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Three-time Super Bowl champion and cancer survivor Joe Andruzzi can now add college graduate to his list of accomplishments.
Andruzzi received his degree in liberal studies from Southern Connecticut State University President Joe Bertolino this week, 22 years after he left the Division II school for the NFL.
Andruzzi said the school taught him that “hard work and dedication is going to push you in life.”
He always intended to finish his degree but said football, then non-Hodgkin Burkitt’s lymphoma, derailed him.
“I once told my grandmother, ‘I’m not just going for football,’ ” Andruzzi said. “Football derailed me from school. Cancer really derailed me. My grandmother, my mother, my father, I always told them, ‘I didn’t go to school for nothing.’ ”
Andruzzi, with his wife, Jen, and five children gathered, walked into a conference room in Southern-blue cap and gown and finished what he started in 1993. When he signed with the Packers in the spring of 1997, he left school several credits short, but completed some of the needed classes over the next 10 years, before he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Burkitt’s lymphoma, which required three months of aggressive chemotherapy. He fought through anxiety and depression as he recovered, but eventually resumed working on the degree.
The 43-year-old former offensive lineman from New York City played for the Green Bay Packers and Cleveland Browns but is best known for helping the New England Patriots win three Super Bowls.
Bertolino says Andruzzi embodies the university’s values of “treating people with dignity, respect, kindness, compassion and civility.”
WASHINGTON: Running back Adrian Peterson is apparently broke despite making more than a $100 million in salary and endorsements during his career. Peterson, 34, who signed a two-year deal to return to Washington for $8 million in March, rushed for 1,042 yards and seven touchdowns in 2018. It was his eighth 1,000-yard season. He ranks eighth all-time in rushing and needs less than 400 yards to pass LaDainian Tomlinson and Jerome Bettis for sixth all-time. With another 1,000-yard season he’d move ahead of Curtis Martin for fifth all-time.
The Athletic first reported Peterson was being sued by a Pennsylvania lender for failing to pay back a $5.2 million loan. He’s also been ordered by a judge to pay back a $2.4 million loan in Maryland. Last year a Minnesota judge ordered him to pay back $600,000 on a different $2.4 million loan.
• Washington released inside linebacker Mason Foster, the starting middle linebacker last season who played almost every snap and led the team with 131 tackles, on the eve of training camp.
Agent Blake Baratz confirmed the surprise move. Baratz blasted the team for having “zero good faith” and tweeted that Foster couldn’t get a straight answer about why he was cut. A team spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the tweets.
Foster was Washington’s starting middle linebacker last season, played almost every snap and led the team with 131 tackles. Washington doesn’t have an obvious replacement after Reuben Foster tore the ACL in his left knee during offseason workouts.
VIKINGS: Cornerback Holton Hill was suspended for four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. The suspension comes on top of the four-game ban he received for violating the NFL’s rules on performance-enhancing drugs, emaning means he will be out for the Vikings’ first eight games. He is eligible to practice and play in the preseason, but will not be able to play until Nov. 3 against the Chiefs.
CHIEFS: Coach Andy Reid confirmed Tuesday that receiver Tyreek Hill would report to Scanlon Hall on the campus of Missouri Western State University with the rest of the veterans on Friday, one week after the NFL said it would not punish him following an investigation into domestic violence involving his 3-year-old son.
Hill has been away from the team since the draft in April, when audio first surfaced in which his then-fiancee, Crystal Espinal, accused him of hurting their son. But an investigation by the Johnson County, Kansas, district attorney resulted in no criminal charges being filed, and a subsequent inquiry by the NFL that included an 8-hour meeting with Hill in Kansas City likewise turned up nothing.
• It’s not known when star defensive tackle Chris Jones will arrive. He is coming off a 15½-sack season, is seeking a long-term deal as he enters the final year of his rookie contract. Jones played hardball during the offseason by skipping the voluntary and mandatory workouts, even at the risk of a club fine, but he remains under contract and must report to training camp by Aug. 6 to earn an accrued season toward free agency.
COWBOYS: Dallas released receiver Allen Hurns, who was signed to a two-year, $11 million contract to be the lead dog on the committee to replace Dez Bryant last season, but was a disappointment, catching just 20 passes for 295 yards and two touchdowns.
He then suffered a gruesome fractured ankle in the wild-card playoff victory against Seattle. With Hurns set to make $4 million in base salary and carrying a $6.2 million cap figure for 2019, the numbers didn’t fit for him to return, without a massive pay cut.
BENGALS: Receiver Tyler Boyd, a second-round pick out of Pittsburgh in 2016 entering the final year on his original deal, signed a four-year contract extension. Boyd led the team with 76 catches and 1,028 yards receiving, both career highs. He also tied for the team lead with seven touchdowns.
• Bengals owner Mike Brown thinks the NFL’s current 16-game schedule for the regular season is long enough, and he doubts that the league will be able to shorten the preseason and add games that count in the standings because of the players’ opposition. Brown said Tuesday that he strongly opposes a suggestion to have an 18-game regular season and allow teams to rest players for two of the games.
FALCONS: Coach Dan Quinn confirmed that safety J.J. Wilcox will miss the season with a right knee injury and that defensive tackle Michael Bennett suffered a broken ankle and will miss the start of the season. Both were hurt on Monday’s opening day of training camp.
• Atlanta and defensive end Allen Bailey agreed to a two-year, $10.5 million contract. The 30-year-old Bailey had a career-high six sacks for the Chiefs in 2018.
JAGUARS: Jacksonville placed veteran receiver Marqise Lee (knee), left tackle Cam Robinson (knee) and fifth-round draft pick Ryquell Armstead (hamstring) on the PUP list Tuesday, two days before they open camp.
BILLS: Buffalo signed offensive lineman Isaac Asiata and safety Abraham Wallace two days before the start of training camp, placed offensive lineman Jeremiah Sirles on injured reserve and released receiver Da’Mari Scott.
MARK SANCHEZ, the former Jets quarterback, has retired from the NFL and will join ESPN as a college football studio analyst, the network announced Tuesday.
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