Cleveland Browns: Quarterback Tim Couch showed up for the first day of training camp buffed, blond and ready for the fight of his football career.

"I'm definitely not going to back down," he said.

Six months of talk, rumors and conjecture ended Friday for Couch and Kelly Holcomb, who began their head-to-head competition to be Cleveland's starting quarterback as the Browns opened training camp. Day One appeared to be a draw.

Coach Butch Davis, who decided to hold an open audition for his starter after Holcomb passed for 429 yards in a playoff loss to Pittsburgh, didn't think either of his quarterbacks was in midseason form.

"I thought everybody was a little rusty," he said.

They were definitely antsy.

Couch and Holcomb each expressed relief that they were back on the field and could finally focus on playing. Since February, Browns fans have been debating the virtues -- and flaws -- of both QBs on a daily basis. It's been impossible to escape or ignore.

"The hardest part of the whole thing has been sitting around, the dead time," said Couch, who not only chiseled his body in the weight room during the offseason but also colored his hair. "This was an offseason where nothing was going on and everyone's talking about it. The easiest part is this part, actually being on the field and playing."

Minnesota Vikings: First-round draft pick Kevin Williams was signed to a five-year contract.

Williams, a defensive tackle from Oklahoma State, was picked ninth overall in the draft and was the Vikings' highest-drafted defensive player since the team took Chris Doleman fourth overall in 1985.

"I knew my guy was going to do some good negotiations," Williams said. "I really wasn't concerned about coming to terms. It worked out."

Williams was the third defensive lineman selected in the draft, behind Kentucky's Dewayne Robertson, picked fourth by the New York Jets, and Georgia's Johnathan Sullivan, selected sixth by New Orleans.

St. Louis Rams: Rookie offensive guard Scott Tercero is sidelined an estimated six weeks with a knee injury. He is the team's sixth-round pick.

Tercero will undergo surgery tomorrow for injuries in the first of two workouts today.

Tercero first hurt his knee lifting weights last week, and tore cartilage in a non-contact drill when he slipped and fell.

Wide receiver Mike Furrey will be out perhaps two weeks with a mild high ankle sprain. He is an off-season pickup from Northern Iowa.

Offensive tackle John St. Clair missed the afternoon full-pad workout after becoming dehydrated earlier in the day.

Veterans Aeneas Williams and Marshall Faulk both sat out the morning practice after participating in both workouts on the opening day of camp.

New York Giants: Keith Hamilton has plenty of questions to answer, and not just about whether he can come back after missing most of last season with an Achilles' tendon injury.

The 32-year-old defensive tackle missed the Giants' first training camp practice to attend a hearing in Morris County, N.J., on drug possession charges arising from his arrest on May 22.

"It was just a procedural matter that me and my lawyer needed to handle," Hamilton said after arriving late for the afternoon workout at the University at Albany.

Another hearing was scheduled for Sept. 2. No trial date has been set.

New Orleans Saints: Jon Stinchcomb of Georgia, projected as a potential starter at right tackle when drafted in the second round, has signed a four-year deal with the team.

Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

His signing was announced Friday, hours before players were to begin reporting to the Saints' suburban New Orleans facilities for the start of training camp.

The 6-5, 302 pound lineman was a four-year starter at Georgia taken with the 37th overall pick in April's draft.

Also Friday, the Saints announced agreements with third-round pick Cie Grant, an Ohio State linebacker who will sign a three-year pact; fourth-round pick Montrae Holland, a guard out of Florida State who signed a three-year deal; and veteran defensive tackle Henry Ford, in his 10th NFL season, who agreed to a two-year deal.

Seattle Seahawks: Tackle Walter Jones missed the mandatory reporting date for training camp, suggesting the standout lineman is likely to hold out for a second consecutive year.

Jones is entering his seventh NFL season. Last year, he waited until mid-September before signing a one-year, $4.92 million deal, joining the Seahawks before a Week 3 loss to the New York Giants and starting 14 games.

The Seahawks placed the franchise tag on Jones last February. In doing so, the team risked the possibility of losing linebacker Anthony Simmons, but he subsequently agreed to a five-year deal.

Jones has said he wants a long-term contract. He was named a Pro Bowl starter last season but didn't participate because of surgery on his right shoulder Jan. 7. He played in two earlier Pro Bowls.