Instead of dating New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, the former ‘Heroes’ beauty is alleged to be in a relationship with another NFL player who has been friend with Mark since childhood.

couldn’t escape being romantically linked to NFL player. Less than a week after the Claire Bennet of “” shot down rumor she is romancing New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, Us Weekly reported she is actually dating Scotty McKnight, another Jets player who is Mark’s childhood friend.

Back on Memorial Day (May 30), the former girlfriend of sparked speculation she might be more than friends with Mark after they were outside an In-N-Out Burger in Laguna Hills, California. While eyewitness said, “They seemed very close and very happy,” a source close to the 21-year-old actress insisted, “They are just friends.”

Newly-single Hayden herself has set the record straight when met at the Vans Custom Culture Event in New York City on June 2. To Us Weekly, she said, “I swear I’m not dating him at all. Honestly. I’m a huge Jets fan and became very good friends with him and his buddies. … I’ve always been that girl who has a lot of dude friends.”

The “” actress further acknowledged, “Every person that I stand next to in this industry is a guy I’m going to be linked to – that’s just inevitably the way it goes.” She added, “When it’s a long-term friendship like that, sometimes it starts getting a little bit frustrating for certain people. You don’t want to put fuel into the fire but you don’t want to stop living your life and doing what you want to do.”

© AceShowbiz.com

Read More: New York Jets

Ever since former New York Giants WR Plaxico Burress was released from prison earlier this week we’ve been trying to identify which teams will pursue him. The top two teams in the mix appear to be the Philadelphia Eagles and St. Louis Rams, although that can be debated.

Other teams that could show interest include the Chicago Bears and New York Jets. It’s that team, the Jets, that has folks talking in New York because Burress previously played for the Giants.

So could Burress remain in New York playing football? Anything’s possible but, according to the NY Daily News, Burress wants to get out of the city.

Several people who have spoken to him in recent months say Burress knows he needs to get away from New York, where he’s known as much for catching the game-winning touchdown pass in Super Bowl XLII as he is for shooting himself in the leg in a Manhattan nightclub nearly 10 months later.

This makes a lot of sense. Burress does, as his friend and former teammate RB Brandon Jacobs said, need a fresh start. New York is not the place to get that. 

Of course, if the Jets offer the most money…