The NFL will open its season on a weeknight for the first time.

        The league confirmed Monday the 2002 season will start on Thursday, Sept.5, most likely with San Francisco at the New York Giants. ESPN will televise the game starting at 8:30 p.m.

        The matchup is tentative pending completion of the full schedule, expected to be announced in about a month.

        “This Thursday night game is a great new element for our kickoff weekend,” commissioner Paul Tagliabue said in a statement. “Kickoff weekend will now begin on Thursday night and culminate on Monday night with a great slate of Sunday games in between.”

        The Thursday night opener replaces one of the two Thursday night games normally carried in midseason by ESPN.

        SAINTS:

        The Miami Dolphins made an offer to trade for Ricky Williams, the former Heisman Trophy winner for whom the New Orleans Saints gave up their entire 1999 draft.

        Rick Spielman, the Dolphins' director of player personnel, said he hoped something could be worked out by the end of the week.

        “We tried to come up with some things that are reasonable to both clubs,” Spielman said after talking for several hours with Saints general manager Randy Mueller at the NFL's scouting combine Monday. “If it's good enough, maybe it will work. If not, it won't.”

        The Saints, who used their No. 1 draft pick last season to pick Deuce McAllister, have been trying since the end of the season to trade Williams, whose on-field performance has been good but whose off-field behavior has sometimes been eccentric. Last week, he was stopped for speeding — police said he was going 126 mph.

        Williams has rushed for 3,129 yards in his first three NFL seasons, although he has been bothered by injuries in all of them. In his rookie season, he had 884 yards while playing on a sprained ankle, then broke an ankle after gaining exactly 1,000 yards in 10 games in 2000. Last season, he ran for 1,245 yards.

        But the Saints, who want to recoup at least some of the picks surrendered for Williams by ex-coach Mike Ditka, are willing to deal him because they have McAllister.

        Coach Jim Haslett, who succeeded Ditka in 2000, also was unhappy when Williams skipped voluntary workouts during the last offseason and said he had been diagnosed with social anxiety disorder.

        The Dolphins, who ranked 23rd in rushing last season, had offered first- and third-round picks for Williams but want a second-rounder back to give them at least one choice in the first three rounds. New Orleans balked at that.

        REDSKINS:

        Steve Spurrier defended his pursuit of his former University of Florida players and said the Washington Redskins will be done quarterback shopping if they can complete a trade for Shane Matthews.

        “Right now, I don't see us spending a lot of money on a veteran quarterback,” the new Redskins coach said.

        “Why would I? Check the quarterbacks I've been coaching the last 22 years. They've generally played pretty good. I'm a head coach here because our quarterbacks have played well. Our teams have won some championships, but we've had success throwing it around.”

        Spurrier has already traded for ex-Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel and he said a trade with Chicago for ex-Gators quarterback Matthews could be done this week.

        The only other quarterback under contract to the Redskins is second-year player Sage Rosenfels, who didn't play his rookie year. Spurrier said Matthews, Wuerffel and Rosenfels plus a young quarterback to round out the numbers would be just fine going into training camp.

        “If Shane came, and Danny and a young guy and Sage, we'd be as close to as well off as anybody around,” Spurrier said. “Who's Baltimore got coming in? The Chicago Bears, they re-signed Jim Miller, and Miller was behind Shane at the start of last season.”

        JETS:

        UC product Sam Garnes is changing teams without leaving New York. The safety agreed to contract terms with the New York Jets. Garnes, a New York native who played five seasons with the Giants, replaces nine-year vet Victor Green, who was released last week after the Jets could not rework his contract. Garnes is 27. Green is 32.

        Garnes agreed to a three-year deal worth $2.7 million. He gets a $500,000 signing bonus, but will count only $767,000 against the salary cap in 2002.

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