NFL camps can't open soon enough for this bunch

[July 27, 2012]  ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) -- Now that NFL training camps are up and running, perhaps the police blotter full of star players will begin to dry up.

Even with a relatively short offseason, a whole bunch of big names wound up in big trouble with the law.

Road rage. Family violence. DUIs. Pot.

Seems as if a day didn't go by these past few weeks without a player apologizing for his misdeeds, knowing full well the league is watching and suspensions could be forthcoming.

So from Dez to Dumervil, Marshawn to Mikel, here's a Pick 6 of problem players and their legal woes:

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MARSHALL LYNCH, RB, SEAHAWKS:

Charged with driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol and driving while having a blood-alcohol level of .08 by the Alameda County, Calif., district attorney, on July 18. Two days later, Lynch apologized for the "negative attention resulting from my recent actions." He was arrested after the California Highway Patrol reported seeing him weaving on Interstate 880 in the Oakland, Calif., area. A CHP incident report described Lynch driving a Ford Econoline van and having two near collisions with two other vehicles driving in adjacent lanes. He entered a not guilty plea on Thursday.

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ELVIS DUMERVIL, LB, BRONCOS:

Arrested in Miami Beach on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, with police calling it a road rage incident. The police report says Dumervil and another man were stuck in traffic on July 14, got into an argument with a female driver, and the two men displayed weapons. Dumervil told police he didn't have a gun; officers say they found one in the car's glove compartment.

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DEZ BRYANT, WR, COWBOYS:

Arrested on July 16, two days after his mother called 911 to complain her son was assaulting her. Angela Bryant allegedly told authorities Dez Bryant hit her in the face with his ball cap and tore her shirt. Since then, Bryant's mother has asked prosecutors not to pursue the case, but a decision has not yet been reached.

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KENNY BRITT, WR, TITANS:

Charged with driving under the influence on July 20 on his way into the Fort Campbell Army installation. It's the eighth run-in he's had with police since he was drafted in 2009. Currently on unable to perform list as he recovers from left knee surgery in June, and a pair of right knee surgeries -- one last September, the other in May.

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JUSTIN BLACKMON, WR, JAGUARS:

Team's top draft pick pleaded guilty earlier this week to drunken driving in Stillwater, Okla., on June 3, in a deal that avoids jail time. Authorities said a breath test showed his blood-alcohol content to be three times the legal limit. The former Oklahoma State star apologized. The terms of his sentence: a $500 fine, $100 to a drug abuse and treatment fund, court costs, 50 hours of community service, and other plea requirements.

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YOUNG LIONS (DB Aaron Berry, RB Mikel Leshoure, DT Nick Fairley, OT Johnny Culbreath):

Berry was cut Monday because of "personal conduct which adversely affects the club." He was arrested twice in the Harrisburg, Pa., area, during the offseason -- once on three charges of simple assault, the other on suspicion of DUI, failure to stop and render aid from an accident and other counts; Leshoure will miss the first two games of the season for violating the league's substance-abuse policy -- he pleaded guilty to marijuana possession in May after police discovered him with pot in his mouth during a traffic stop in southwestern Michigan in March -- less than a month after he was caught with marijuana by police in a different Berrien County community; Fairley was arrested in Alabama on charges of DUI and attempting to elude police in May. In April, he was arrested for allegedly possessing marijuana; Culbreath had a marijuana-related run-in with law enforcement during the offseason, and was released.

[Associated Press; By RICHARD ROSENBLATT]

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