CELEBRATION, Fla. – Brian Kelly doesn’t want to become one of those distractions that can hinder a team’s chances of repeating as Super Bowl champions.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback is unhappy with the $1 million he’s scheduled to earn after tying for the NFL lead in interceptions last season, yet nevertheless reported to training camp on time Friday.

The sixth-year pro said he never seriously considered holding out.

“I never came out and said I’m not reporting. That wasn’t the situation,” Kelly said after checking into the Bucs’ camp near Disney World without a restructured contract.

“I’m here to try win a championship again. I’m not going to leave. I’m not going to come back asking for it. I’m done with it. I’m just going to go out and perform like I did last year.”

Kelly is entering the second season of a six-year, $15.3 million contract he signed in March 2002, when he was coming off a year in which he didn’t have an interception, despite starting 11 games.

He’s scheduled to earn more than $11 million in the last four seasons of the deal and asked the Bucs to reward him for having a breakthough season with eight interceptions in 2002 by juggling numbers to allow him to receive some of the backloaded money this year.

“I didn’t come in saying “I want new money, I had eight picks, pay me.’ It wasn’t a threat, none of those things,” Kelly said. “Some people took it that way. Some people ran with it that way. But that wasn’t the situation. What we asked for, it was something that was very generous. But it wasn’t ridiculous.”

The Bucs rejected the proposal. General manager Rich McKay said he intends to speak to Kelly on Saturday.

“We have a lot of players who had great years, and we had great team success. And contracts, contrary to some people’s perception, are not a perfect science,” McKay said. “You’re going to have great disagreements at times. I have yet to run into a player who

felt like he was adequately paid.”

Rams’ Holt agrees

to seven-year contract

ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Rams solved one offseason dilemma Friday by signing wide receiver Torry Holt to a seven-year contract. Now, attention turns to another star unhappy with his contract – offensive tackle Orlando Pace.

The Rams also announced they have signed the first of their two fourth-round picks in the 2003 draft, wide receiver Shaun McDonald.

Holt, 27, was about to enter the final season of a five-year, $10 million contract he signed after being drafted out of North Carolina State in 1999. The new contract is effective beginning this season.

“I’m ready to get back to work,” Holt said. “I’ve been blessed with a lot of energy. I love the game. I love what I do.”

Coach Mike Martz called the signing one of his happiest days as coach.

“He’s just going to get better,” Martz said. “It’s exciting to think about all the things that can happen with him offensively.”

Pace is threatening to hold out when the team opens training camp next week in Macomb, Ill. He is upset over being named the Rams’ franchise player and also wants a contract extension.

Pace skipped a minicamp in the spring. Holt, a team captain, showed up despite the negotiations that were stalled at the time.

Holt had his third straight 1,000-yard receiving season in 2002, leading the team with 91 catches for 1,302 yards. But his four touchdown receptions and his 14.3 yards-per-catch were career lows as the Rams, expected to contend for the Super Bowl, went 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1998.

Boselli: Botched surgery spelled early end to career

HOUSTON – Tony Boselli blames a botched operation on his left shoulder for his early retirement.

Boselli, who never played a down for the Houston Texans after being their top pick in last year’s expansion draft, addressed the local media for the first time Friday since word of his decision to retire was made public earlier this week. He said he believes the November 2001 surgery by team doctors with his former team, Jacksonville, was the beginning of the end.

“I have a lot of questions and concerns about how that was handled because my left shoulder was better before I went into surgery than it ever has been since,” said Boselli. He said treatment and a follow-up procedure by Texans team surgeon Dr. Walter Lowe a year ago has helped, but the shoulder hurts “24 hours a day.”

Jaguars spokesman Dan Edwards said the comments by Boselli were a surprise to the team. “I don’t think it’s ever come up before,” Edwards said Friday.

He had no further comment.

The Texans took Boselli in the 2002 expansion draft in an agreement between the two teams that allowed Houston to take defensive linemen Seth Payne and Gary Walker. Although Boselli, now 31, made the Pro Bowl five times in his first six seasons with the Jaguars, the team let him go when he didn’t return after the 2001 campaign, which was cut short by operations on both shoulders, and also because of his large salary.

While Boselli never played for the Texans, Walker reached the Pro Bowl and both he and Payne were consistent contributors who took part in all 16 games last season.

Texans general manager Charley Casserly said he believes the deal ultimately will benefit the team despite the $6 million salary cap hit the franchise must endure this season.

“In order to get those two (Payne and Walker) you had to take the risk on Boselli. That was the deal,” Casserly said.

Boselli said he, his wife and four children likely will sell their Houston home and move elsewhere.

The self-described “sports junkie” said it was difficult to leave the game.

“But at the same time I realize there was no other choice I could make,” Boselli said. “I did everything in my control, the Houston Texans did everything in their control to give me every opportunity.”

AP-ES-07-18-03 1637EDT