Tim Brown was reunited with Jon Gruden on Tuesday when he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, joining the man who coached him in Oakland for four seasons.

The 38-year-old, nine-time Pro Bowl receiver will be counted on to bolster a receiving corps that is in desperate need of experienced help because of injuries and Keenan McCardell’s holdout.

Meanwhile, running back Chris Perry ended an 11-day holdout by signing with Cincinnati. Perry was the 26th overall pick in the draft.

His signing leaves four first-rounders unsigned, most notably quarterback Philip Rivers with San Diego and tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. with Cleveland. Winslow was reportedly close to a deal Tuesday.

“We’re just excited to have him here,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said of Perry. “It’s a process that’s taken a little time, but that’s part of it.”

Brown became a Buc after being released last week after 16 seasons with the Raiders after he fell to fourth or fifth in a receiving group that includes Jerry Rice and Jerry Porter.

With Tampa Bay, Brown could wind up being a starter with McCardell demanding a raise after a Pro Bowl season and Joe Jurevicius out indefinitely after undergoing back surgery earlier this month.

The Bucs also think rookie receiver Michael Clayton, the team’s first-round draft pick, can benefit from being around and learning from the 17th-year pro.

Brown played a franchise-record 240 games for Oakland, and his streak of 173 consecutive games with at least one reception is the second-longest in NFL history behind Rice’s 273.

The 1987 Heisman Trophy winner played for Gruden from 1998-2001, the last four years in a stretch of nine consecutive seasons with at least 1,000 yards receiving. Two years ago, he helped lead the Raiders to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the Gruden-led Bucs.

Last season, Brown had 52 catches for 567 yards and two TDs.

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Cardinals

Arizona is waiting anxiously for test results on the right knee of Anquan Boldin, the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year last season.

The Cardinals’ only Pro Bowl player injured his right knee Tuesday morning while loosening up for practice and was carted from the field. That came after he experienced soreness in the same knee on Monday, sitting out a morning practice but participated in an afternoon walkthrough.

“His knee locked up on him, and so we’re running some extensive tests,” coach Dennis Green said Tuesday. “It’s not locked up now.”

Green said the injury was freakish.

“He wasn’t running or anything,” the coach said. “He was just actually not even hardly jogging, so I’m sure that something’s going on inside, but we won’t know until all the tests are done. They’re running a different type of tests, since it is unusual.”

Last season, Boldin set an NFL rookie record with 101 receptions, had the most yards receiving (1,377) by a rookie since Houston’s Bill Groman in 1960 and established a franchise rookie record with eight scoring grabs.

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Browns

The Cleveland Browns and Kellen Winslow Jr. appear closer to a deal.

Winslow’s agent, Kevin Poston, was to meet Tuesday night with Browns president John Collins, team spokeswoman Julia Payne said. She did not know if Winslow was already in Cleveland or still in Houston, where Poston’s office is based.

The meeting follows talks between the two sides that took place over the weekend. A message left seeking comment with Poston on Tuesday was not immediately returned.

The rookie tight end, sixth overall pick in last April’s draft, has missed 12 days of training camp, including a preseason scrimmage against Buffalo. A deal this week would get Winslow into camp in time for the Browns’ first preseason game at Tennessee on Saturday.

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Eagles

Jevon Kearse returned to practice Tuesday after leaving the field on Monday with a sprained left ankle.

“The ankle is 100 percent better,” Kearse said. “If it wasn’t well, I wouldn’t have been able to practice.”

Kearse plans to play in the preseason opener on Friday night against New England.

The defensive end, who signed an eight-year, $66 million deal with the Eagles in March, was carted off the field Monday after he hurt his ankle – the same one he injured last year in Tennessee, forcing him to miss two games.

Meanwhile, backup quarterback Koy Detmer underwent arthroscopic knee surgery. He is expected to miss about two weeks. Veteran Jeff Blake will be the second-team quarterback for the Eagles on Friday.

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Bills

Offensive lineman Mike Williams, fined last week by the team for missing a training camp session, missed practice again Tuesday because of an apparent injury.

Williams was wearing a protective boot on his right foot Tuesday.

Last week, Williams was fined by coach Mike Mularkey after skipping practice due to “personal problems.” Williams did not provide details, saying only that the situation had been rectified.

Williams also had missed several voluntary minicamp sessions in June because of a death in his family. Mularkey then demoted him to the Bills’ second team, saying he wanted to give the tackle more time to learn the offensive system.

Williams has started working part-time with the Bills’ first-string offense.

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Jaguars

Jacksonville waived kicker Seth Marler on Tuesday after he strained his quadriceps muscle several times during the first week of training camp.

Coach Jack Del Rio said that if Marler clears waivers the Jags would re-sign him and place him on injured reserve for the season.

Marler was the regular kicker for the team last season, making 20-of-33 field goals.

The injury leaves Jacksonville with Jeff Chandler and Josh Scobee competing for the job.

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Lions

Linebacker Boss Bailey will miss at least two to three weeks while recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.

Trainer Al Bellamy said Bailey was to undergo surgery Wednesday in Athens, Ga., to repair damaged cartilage. Dr. Mixon Robinson, a team physician at the University of Georgia, where Bailey played, will perform the operation.

Lions president Matt Millen said the procedure likely would not be very invasive.

A second-round pick in the 2003 draft, Bailey had been held out of most drills since last week. As a rookie, he started all 16 games and finished with 109 tackles, one sack and one interception.

Rams

Running back Lamar Gordon had surgery Tuesday on his left ankle and is expected to be out for four weeks.

He was a third-round pick in 2002 and rushed for 298 yards and a 4.2-yard average last year. He had 228 yards and a 3.5-yard average in 2002, his rookie season.

AP-ES-08-10-04 2028EDT