CHICAGO -- Some NFL players will donate part of their paychecks from the league's Dec. 23 games to help needy retired players.
Kansas City Chiefs lineman Kyle Turley said at a news conference to announce the plan Tuesday at Mike Ditka's restaurant that he will donate his entire $25,000 paycheck.
Ditka has been vocal in publicizing the plight of former players who struggle with the effects of lingering physical problems.
"We make a lot of money playing this game, and it's because of the guys that played before us," Turley said.
Perhaps best known for ripping the helmet off a player who grabbed his teammate's face mask and tossing it downfield while with New Orleans, Turley is the first active player to launch an initiative to help former players.
His effort is the latest chapter in a very public and bitter feud between retired players and the NFL Players Association. Ditka and others say the union refuses to award disability benefits to former players. In recent months, they publicized the plight of retired players wiped out financially by the cost of multiple surgeries and injuries that have left them unable to work.
The union and the league have defended the disability system. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told a Senate hearing in September that the league is boosting benefits when many companies around the nation are reducing them.
PATRIOTS MOVES: The New England Patriots activated receiver Troy Brown from the physically unable to perform list, reviving the career of one of the most versatile players from their three Super Bowl victories.
Linebacker Rosevelt Colvin was placed on injured reserve, ending his season. The team also waived defensive lineman Kareem Brown and signed linebacker Chad Brown.
Colvin, 30, left the 31-28 victory over the Eagles and did not return. Although the announcement was that he had a foot injury, it appeared trainers were working on his arm.
Chad Brown, 36, a former Seahawk, has been signed and released by New England twice this season. He played one game for the Patriots this year and made two tackles on special teams.
EXTRA POINTS: Vikings defensive tackle Fred Evans received a two-game suspension from the NFL for violating the league's personal conduct policy after a pair of offseason arrests. Evans was arrested this summer while he was on Miami's roster, for marijuana possession in Texas and for fighting with police in Florida. ... Panthers guard Jeremy Bridges was found guilty of pointing a gun at a woman in a parking lot in Charlotte, N.C., and was given a 60-day suspended jail sentence. ... A judge in Sussex, Va., scheduled an April 2 trial date for jailed Falcons quarterback Michael Vick on two state felony dogfighting charges.