Stone, who started at tight end for N.C. State last season, has signed a free-agent rookie contract with the Chicago Bears. Stone was one of 28 players invited to a recent minicamp tryout for undrafted players in Lake Forest, Ill. Four were offered free-agent contracts after the camp.

"It's definitely a long shot, but I'll take it," Stone said Monday. "It was an awesome experience being in camp. It's every kid's dream, to be in an NFL locker room, to be fitted for NFL equipment, to practice with NFL coaches.

"I feel like I had a strong camp. I went in with the mind-set I'd do the best I could do and see what happens. Now, I have an opportunity to compete for a spot."

Stone was recruited as a quarterback by the Pack and started parts of two seasons. Switched to tight end, he caught 36 passes for 452 yards and one touchdown last season, playing all 12 games after starter Anthony Hill seriously injured a knee just before camp began.

The Bears have five tight ends listed on their roster, including veteran Desmond Clark, Greg Olsen and former Virginia tight end Fontel Mines. Chicago made Michigan State tight end Kellen Davis a fifth-round pick in the recent NFL draft.

Stone and Davis, 6-foot-7 and 262 pounds, trained together in January and February at Perfect Competition Inc. in Davie, Fla.

Stone, 6-2 and 239 pounds, said he soon will return to Chicago for about three weeks of conditioning and workouts, and will report to preseason camp in late July.

"I went to the minicamp hopeful of getting signed," Stone said. "I did that, so that's one more step. Now, I've got a shot."

FORMER PANTHERS PLAYER DIES: Former Carolina Panthers center Curtis Whitley, who starred at Smithfield-Selma High, has died.

Family members said Monday night that they learned earlier in the day that Whitley, who turned 39 Saturday, had been found dead in Texas, where he was living. They were awaiting details about the cause and precise timing of his death.

Whitley started every game in the Panthers' inaugural 1995 season, and he made eight starts in 1996 before getting suspended four games for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.

He joined the Oakland Raiders in 1997 but was suspended again before the 1998 season and didn't play in the league again.

Whitley played college football at Clemson. The San Diego Chargers picked him in the fifth round of the 1992 NFL draft.

BEARS REWARD GOULD: Robbie Gould became the highest paid kicker, agreeing to a five-year, $15.5 million contract extension with the Chicago Bears that includes a $4.25 million signing bonus on Monday. The deal runs through 2013.

Gould has made 84 of 99 field-goal attempts and 99 of 100 PATs with the Bears.

His new deal trumps the five-year, $14.2 million contract Josh Brown signed with the St. Louis Rams on March 1.

TAYLOR MURDER SUSPECTS WON'T FACE DEATH PENALTY: Prosecutors in Miami said Monday they will not seek the death penalty against four people charged with murdering Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor because the accused shooter was a minor when the crime was committed.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that people cannot be executed for crimes committed when they're under 18, and it's a well-established legal principle that others involved in the same case as a minor cannot face the ultimate penalty if they are less directly responsible.

Assistant State Attorney Reid Rubin filed notice Friday that the death penalty will be waived. That means the four suspects could get a maximum of life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder after a trial scheduled to begin Aug. 25.

WALSH TO MEET WITH GOODELL AND SPECTER: Former New England Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh will meet separately with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Sen. Arlen Specter today to discuss New England's videotaping of opposing coaches' playcalling signals in violation of league rules.

Walsh is scheduled to meet with Goodell at the NFL offices in New York at 7:30 a.m. Afterward, he will travel to Washington to meet with Specter. Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has been critical of the NFL's handling of the investigation.

T.O. MAKES SITCOM DEBUT: Terrell Owens is coming to prime time Wednesday night. As an actor.

T.O. will make his sitcom acting debut on the MyNetworkTV show "Under One Roof" at 8 p.m. as the long-lost brother of the show's star, Flavor Flav. Owens tries convincing Flav and sitcom sibling Kelly Perine that they're all brothers in hopes of getting them to invest in his Web site.

It might also be a first step toward a second career.

"If I'm going to really consider doing acting after football, this is a great start to let me get my feet wet," Owens said. "For an actor trying to become an A-lister, I think I'm on the bottom of the pile. I'm a D-lister."