NFL notes: Montee Ball is arrested

Former Denver Broncos and University of Wisconsin running back Montee Ball, who is from Wentzville, was arrested early Friday after a woman reported he threw her, injuring her leg. According to Madison, Wis., police spokesman Joel DeSpain, officers were called to a hotel in downtown Madison shortly before 4 a.m. for an incident in one of the rooms.

The woman, 20, told officers there was argument and Ball grabbed and threw her, DeSpain said. She cut her leg on a table and was taken to a hospital for stitches, he said. Ball, who went to Timberland High, said he didn’t throw the woman, but said he pushed her, DeSpain said.

Ball, 25, was arrested on a charge of substantial battery because the victim needed stitches. He was expected to be held through the weekend before having a bail hearing Monday.

He was a second-round pick in the 2013 draft by the Broncos and played for two seasons in Denver and totaled 731 rushing yards on 175 attempts and five touchdowns before being cut before the 2015 season. This season he tried out for the Packers and was signed by the Patriots and placed on their practice squad.

At Wisconsin, Ball finished fourth in voting for the 2011 Heisman Trophy and had 5,140 rushing yards and 83 total touchdowns in his four years. In 2012, Ball won the Doak Walker Award, which honors the nation’s top running back.

Dad: Manziel could be suicidal • With Johnny Manziel’s NFL career in doubt and his personal life crumbling, his father fears for his safety.

The quarterback faces allegations that he hit his former girlfriend last weekend in Texas and on Friday, a day after Dallas police said their investigation was closed, they said they will re-open the probe. A police statement noted that “as there are many emotional factors involved, it is not uncommon for a victim of domestic violence to question or delay reporting an assault.”

The player’s father, Paul Manziel, said the family has made two unsuccessful attempts in the past week to get the player into a rehab clinic and he told a Denton (Texas) County Sheriff officer he believed his son to be suicidal.

“I truly believe if they can’t get him help, he won’t live to see his 24th birthday” in December, Paul Manziel told The Dallas Morning News.

Colleen Crowley, the former girlfriend, filed a protective order against Johnny Manziel this week that prevents him from seeing her for two years, according to the order obtained by television station WFAA.

Manziel also was dropped by his agent Friday, as Erik Burkhardt said that with “deep regret” he ended the business relationship. He added that he made his decision after “several emotional and very personal discussions with his family, his doctors, and my client himself.”

Manziel is expected to be released by the Cleveland Browns next month after two tumultuous seasons.

The 2012 Heisman Trophy winner, who entered the NFL with a party-boy reputation, spent 73 days last winter in a Pennsylvania treatment center specializing in care for alcohol and drug dependency.

Burress owes $56,000 • Former NFL receiver Plaxico Burress has five years to repay New Jersey $56,000 in back taxes and restitution or face going to jail, a judge said. Burress, who received five years’ probation, would face a 364-day jail sentence if he fails to make the payments in time.

The former Steeler, Giant and Jet had admitted that he didn’t pay $46,000 in state taxes on his $1 million income in 2013. In return for his plea, prosecutors dropped a charge of issuing a bad check or electronic funds transfer.

Elsewhere • Former Vikings tight end Stu Voigt was found guilty of one count of bank fraud. A federal jury in Minneapolis reached the verdict in a case that prosecutors said bilked investors out of millions of dollars. Voigt was acquitted of a second count. The Star Tribune newspaper reported that Voigt’s business partner, Jeffrey Gardner, was convicted of multiple fraud charges. The men will be sentenced later.

• Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath said he plans to donate his brain for research after he dies.

“Just as I would consider donating my heart and whatever else can be used in the future by someone, absolutely, of course I would,” he said.