The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE - Packers cornerback Mike McKenzie asked for a trade earlier this week, but Green Bay quickly denied the request.

"I can confirm I requested permission to seek a trade and they denied it immediately," agent Brian Parker said. He declined to comment about the reasons for the request, which he said he made Wednesday.

Mike Sherman, the Packers' coach and general manager, said he would speak with McKenzie.

"I don't want to say anything regarding Mike until I talk to him personally," Sherman said. "He's a valuable member of our football team, someone I care about and someone I can always count on."

McKenzie has never spoken publicly about a rift with the team, nor has he complained publicly about his contract. But the root of the rift might be money.

McKenzie is entering the third season of a five-year, $17.1 million deal he signed in January 2002. At the time, the contract was considered undervalued because McKenzie was still a year from restricted free agency and he opted for the security of a long-term deal.

Parker was not McKenzie's agent at the time he signed the extension, which calls for base salaries of $2.75 million next season, $3.4 million in 2005 and $4 million in 2006 - a bargain for a shutdown cornerback of McKenzie's stature.

McKenzie has been the Packers' starting left cornerback since being drafted in the third round in 1999. Last year, he had four interceptions and 58 tackles and broke up a team-high 20 passes.

RAIDERS: Tight end Roland Williams is returning to Oakland after signing a contract Saturday.

Williams played for the Raiders in 2001 and 2002, ending the '02 campaign with knee injuries suffered on the Raiders' final drive of a 24-0 win over Kansas City and missing the playoffs and the Super Bowl.

He was a key blocker for the Raiders and had 27 catches for 213 yards in 2002. Last season, he played in one game for Tampa Bay.

COWBOYS: Former Cowboy Dimitrius Underwood was taken to a psychiatric ward after refusing to get out of his stalled car on a Texas interstate highway.

Dallas police found the former defensive tackle sitting inside the car in the middle of I-35 shortly before 9:30 p.m. Thursday. Police shot several rounds of pepper balls at Underwood's car when he refused to get out, and he was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital.

No charges were filed, Dallas Police Sgt. Gil Cerda said.

Underwood has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In 2002, he was arrested on charges of robbing a paraplegic and assaulting a police officer, but a jury found him incompetent to stand trial.

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