The bizarre saga of Underwood took a near tragic turn when he was found by police bleeding from stab wounds to the neck on a downtown street in Lansing, Michigan on Sunday. He is listed in satisfactory condition at Sparrow Hospital.

Lansing police authorities confirmed on Monday that the wounds were self-inflicted.

After placing Underwood on the non-football injury list today, Johnson said the Dolphins have set up counseling for the rookie end.

"This will allow him to focus in on his recovery both medically and physically and it will allow us to work with him as far as counselors," Johnson said today. "We actually set up counseling for him last week.

"This takes away the thought of playing this year and allows him to get back on the right track and focus in on next year."

Underwood, a product of Michigan State, returned to the Lansing area during Miami's bye week. He suffered a dislocated left shoulder in the Dolphins' final preseason game and did not play in any regular season games.

Early Saturday night, Underwood was arrested by Lansing police on a warrant for failing to make child support payments.

The arrest and subsequent stabbing are two more incidents in the unique story of Underwood, a first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings.

Underwood made headlines when he walked out on the Vikings during training camp and said he wanted to pursue the ministry. After telling Vikings coach Dennis Green he had no desire to play football, Underwood was waived and returned his $1.75 million signing bonus.

After being released by the Vikings, Underwood was claimed on waivers by Johnson. Johnson has a reputation for taking chances on players who have off-field issues. Last year, he signed running back Lawrence Phillips, who was charged with assaulting his ex-girlfriend at the University of Nebraska.

This year, Johnson drafted running back Cecil Collins, who had legal woes while in college, and signed free agent receiver Tony Martin, who was acquitted on money laundering charges.

One week after being acquired by the Dolphins from the Denver Broncos last Tuesday for running back John Avery in a swap of 1998 first-round picks, Nash was released after refusing to take a pay cut.

Nash is in the second year of a five-year, $5.2 million deal and never played in a game for the Dolphins, who are coming off a bye week.

"We had discussions with him and his agent about reducing his salary," Johnson said. "That wasn't agreeable (to them) and so we released him."

The Broncos quickly soured on Nash, who had four catches for 76 yards in six games as a rookie and no receptions in two games this year, before dealing him to Miami.

Selected right after Avery with the final first-round pick in 1998, Nash is second on the University of Tennessee's all-time list with 177 receptions for 2,447 yards.