NFL -- Rison To Top: $3.6M Deal Second To Rice

LANSING, Mich. - With a new Nike commercial showing Andre Rison working out with Reggie White, Rison can put his extensive training to use.

Rison signed a two-year deal worth nearly $3.6 million yesterday with the Atlanta Falcons, with the added benefit that the team cannot protect him as a transition or franchise player.

Rison is glad the holdout is over.

"It feels good. I'm going into the season as the second-highest-paid receiver," he said, noting San Francisco's Jerry Rice is the highest paid. "I'll start working out with the team for two-a-days this week, and work out on my own this weekend."

He will not make the trip to Philadelphia for tomorrow's exhibition game against the Eagles.

Rison caught 93 passes for 1,119 yards - both team highs - and scored 11 touchdowns for Atlanta in 1992, and he is the only player in NFL history to catch 300 passes in his first four seasons. Rison and Rice are the only two receivers to produce three consecutive 80-reception, 10-touchdown seasons.

Rison's $112,000 fine for missing the first three weeks of camp was cut in half when he signed.

GEORGE TO REPORT?

Jeff George, the Indianapolis Colts' disgruntled quarterback, finally will report to the team, sources said today.

While the move will ensure that he gets paid for the first game, a check worth $111,000, George still is liable for the $144,000 in fines accumulated in the month he's been out of camp.

ELLIOTT, GIANTS AGREE

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Jumbo Elliott became the last New York Giants player to reach a contract agreement. Elliott said he had not been told the details of his new contract by attorney Marvin Demoff, but the starting left tackle said he planned to sign the deal today.

GREEN ENDS BENGAL HOLDOUT

CINCINNATI - Running back Harold Green ended his holdout and signed a three-year, $4.1 million deal with the Bengals.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported the signing in today's editions, saying Green flew here from his Columbia, S.C., home last night.

Instead of joining the Bengals for their exhibition game at Detroit tonight, he will report to the team's practice facility here tomorrow.

GANNON DEALT TO REDSKINS

CARLISLE, Pa. - Rich Gannon, his job with the Minnesota Vikings already handed to Jim McMahon, was traded to Washington for a conditional draft choice. Gannon will back up Mark Rypien.

ISMAIL CLOSE TO RAIDER DEAL

LOS ANGELES - Raghib "Rocket" Ismail will sign with the Los Angeles Raiders in the next seven to 10 days, his agent said.

In a conversation with radio station KMPC, Bob Woolf said that both sides have agreed the contract will be for two years, but they still are negotiating salary.

Ismail reportedly is seeking a $3 million deal.

NOTES

-- Henry Ellard, wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams, left practice in Berea, Ohio, after re-injuring his left ankle.

-- Neal Anderson's lingering hamstring injury will keep him out of the Chicago Bears' exhibition game Monday night at New Orleans and is becoming a cause for concern.

-- Tight end Keith McKeller, hobbled by a knee injury, probably will miss the Buffalo Bills' regular-season opener in two weeks against New England at Rich Stadium.

-- Philadelphia cornerback Ben Smith, who has been rehabilitating for 22 months from a 1991 knee injury, was cleared to return.

-- Pittsburgh quarterback Neil O'Donnell underwent a magnetic-resonance-imaging test for his sore throwing elbow with "no significant damage or injury detected," according to a Steeler spokesman.

Compiled from Associated Press, Lansing (Mich.) State Journal, Rockford (Ill.) Register Star, Los Angeles Times, Camden (N.J.) Courier-Post, Tarentum Valley (Pa.) News Dispatch and Gannett News Service.