St. Louis Rams defensive end Leonard Little was charged with a felony for drunken driving and speeding yesterday, five years after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter for an accident that killed a woman.

His latest arrest came early Saturday morning after he was pulled over for speeding by police in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue. A probable cause statement filed by police said Little had bloodshot and watery eyes, smelled of alcohol and failed three sobriety tests.

The statement said Little admitted drinking alcoholic beverages.

Driving while intoxicated normally is a misdemeanor. In this case, however, Little's 1999 guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter in a drunken-driving crash allowed prosecutors to charge him as a persistent offender, making the case a felony.

St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch declined to discuss results of any breath test for Little or whether the football player agreed to take one.

Little was released on $7,500 bond.

He was suspended without pay for the first half of the 1999 season after he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a 1998 accident that killed Susan Gutweiler of St. Louis. In that case, Little's blood-alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit.

Along with the charges filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court, Little could again face another lengthy suspension from the NFL. "Our only comment will be it will be reviewed under terms of the substance-abuse policy," league spokesman Greg Aiello said before the charges were filed.

"We have to wait until it works its way through the courts and there's a resolution, but players are accountable."

Little went to his first Pro Bowl after last season and has played with the Rams his entire six-year career.

He was fifth in the NFL with 12 1/2 sacks in 2003 and has 39 sacks the past three years.

Collins knows time's up

With Eli Manning in town, Kerry Collins is ready to leave.

Collins, who took the New York Giants to the 2001 Super Bowl, said his goodbyes yesterday after five years with the team. While the quarterback wasn't officially released, Collins and the Giants said that almost surely would happen in the next few days.

On Saturday, the Giants traded North Carolina State quarterback Philip Rivers and three draft choices to the San Diego Chargers for Manning, the No. 1 overall pick.

Manning's salary makes it almost impossible for the team to have cap room for two highly paid quarterbacks. Collins, 31, will earn $7 million next season, but he will cost $8.95 million against the $80.6 million salary cap.

"I figured there was no reason to hang around," Collins said after turning down a request by Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi to restructure his salary.

Accorsi said there were two reasons the Giants had yet to make the release official. He hadn't discussed it with new coach Tom Coughlin and the team's owners, and there was always the possibility another team would seek to trade for Collins. But he conceded making a deal was remote because of Collins' high salary.

Accorsi also denied he suggested the quarterback take a pay cut, as Collins asserted.

"He may have misunderstood," Accorsi said, adding that the restructuring would have involved turning some of the salary into a signing bonus and adding "voidable years" that Collins would almost surely opt out of.

Collins said he also has the impression Coughlin seemed ready to start Manning almost immediately.

"Ernie told me that he felt Eli was one of the three or four best college quarterbacks he's seen in the last 20 years," Collins said. "Someone like [John] Elway or [Dan] Marino. Someone like that."

Collins was the Carolina Panthers' first draft pick in 1995, and the former Penn State quarterbacked the expansion team to the NFC championship game in its second season.

But two years later, plagued by problems with alcohol, he walked into the office of coach Dom Capers and said he had to quit. The Panthers released him, and he was picked up for the rest of the season by New Orleans.

At Accorsi's urging, the Giants signed Collins in 1999, and they helped rehabilitate his life and career. He started seven games that season. The next, Collins led them to the NFC championship, throwing for 381 yards and five touchdowns in a 41-0 win over Minnesota in the conference title game.

In the Super Bowl two weeks later, he was 15 of 39 for 112 yards with four interceptions in a 34-7 loss to Baltimore. That contrast typifies Collins -- he is among the best in the game when protected, but limited by a lack of mobility and vulnerable to pressure.

Still, he started 67 straight games before spraining his ankle last season, when the Giants' horrible offensive line was the main factor in a 4-12 finish.

"I feel it personally because I invested a lot in bringing Kerry here," Accorsi said. "But that's football. It's a business and ultimately you have to make decisions that can be painful."

Payton picks Titans

Miami running back Jarrett Payton signed as an undrafted free agent with the Tennessee Titans.

Payton, the son of late NFL Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton, ran for 985 yards and seven touchdowns in his final season with the Hurricanes. He had a big game against Florida State in the Orange Bowl, running for 131 yards in a 16-14 win.

The 6-foot, 218-pound Payton became the starter for the Hurricanes in 2003 when Frank Gore went down for the season with a knee injury. In addition to running back, Payton also played fullback at Miami.