Total turnaround: Everett may walk again

Kevin Everett voluntarily moved his arms and legs on Tuesday when partially awakened, prompting a neurosurgeon to say the Buffalo Bills' tight end would walk again -- contrary to the grim prognosis given a day before.

"Based on our experience, the fact that he's moving so well, so early after such a catastrophic injury means he will walk again," said Dr. Barth Green, chairman of the department of neurological surgery at the University of Miami school of medicine.

"It's totally spectacular, totally unexpected," Green told The Associated Press by telephone from Miami.

Green said he's been consulting with doctors in Buffalo since Everett sustained a life-threatening spinal cord injury Sunday after ducking his head while tackling the Denver Broncos' Domenik Hixon during the second-half kickoff of the Bills' season opener.

Everett dropped face-first to the ground after his helmet hit Hixon high on the left shoulder and side of the helmet.

Asked whether Everett will have a chance to fully recover, Green said: "It's feasible, but it's not 100 percent predictable at this time. ... But it's feasible he could lead a normal life."

On Monday, Bills orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Andrew Cappuccino, said Everett likely wouldn't walk again.

"A best-case scenario is full recovery, but not likely," said Cappuccino, who operated on the reserve tight end. "I believe there will be some permanent neurologic deficit."

Cappuccino and officials at Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital did not immediately return several messages left with them by The AP.

In a report Tuesday evening, Buffalo's WIVB-TV quoted Cappuccino as saying: "We may be witnessing a minor miracle."

Bills owner Ralph Wilson said the team has been in contact from the beginning with Green and the Miami Project, the university's neurological center that specializes in spinal cord injuries and paralysis.

Everett's agent, Brian Overstreet, also said Everett's mother told him the player moved his arms and legs when awakened from a deeply sedated sleep.

"I don't know if I would call it a miracle. I would call it a spectacular example of what people can do," Green said. "To me, it's like putting the first man on the moon or splitting the atom. We've shown that if the right treatment is given to people who have a catastrophic injury that they could walk away from it."

Green said the key was the quick action taken by Cappuccino to run an ice-cold saline solution through Everett's system that put the player in a hypothermic state. Doctors at the Miami Project have demonstrated in their laboratories that such action significantly decreases the damage to the spinal cord due to swelling and movement.

Frye traded to Seahawks: Charlie Frye went from starter to starting over, and Brady Quinn moved up a notch.

In two days, the Cleveland Browns' complicated, confusing and crowded quarterback carousel took a dizzying spin.

Frye, benched before halftime in Sunday's season opener, was traded to Seattle for a sixth-round draft pick, a stunningly swift move that raises Quinn, the Browns' high-profile rookie QB, to No. 2 on the depth chart.

With Frye no longer in the picture, the Browns will start Derek Anderson, who lost the quarterback competition to Frye during the preseason, at home Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Quinn, the heir apparent, will be Anderson's backup.

Cleveland's trade of Frye is unprecedented. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he's the first quarterback since the NFL/AFL merger in 1970 to start his team's season opener and be traded before Week 2.

The Browns also signed Ken Dorsey to a one-year contract Tuesday, 10 days after cutting him.

Russell about to sign: Quarterback JaMarcus Russell arrived in the Bay Area on Tuesday to sign a record rookie deal with the Oakland Raiders and end the longest holdout in more than two decades by the league's top pick.

Lawyers for the Raiders and Russell were reviewing the final details of the six-year, $61 million contract, but no holdups were expected, according to two people familiar with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced. Russell was expected to sign in time to join his new team for practice Wednesday.

Rams DT suspended: St. Louis Rams defensive tackle Claude Wroten was suspended without pay for four games for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.

Wroten's suspension begins immediately and he will be eligible to return to the team on Oct. 8.