NFL roundup: Fitzgerald, Arizona OK $40M pact
3/12/2008PHOENIX - Two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald has agreed to a new $40 million, four-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals.
The team announced the agreement yesterday and Fitzgerald trumpeted the deal with a headline on his Web site. It includes $30 million in guaranteed money.
The Cardinals wanted to renegotiate Fitzgerald's incentive-laden rookie contract because he had reached many of the benchmarks and was to receive $14.6 million in 2008 and just under $17.4 million in 2009.
Those figures left the Cardinals with hardly any room under the salary cap to sign free agents. In addition, the contract locks up Fitzgerald through 2011, when he still will be only 28 years old.
PANTHERS/JARRET: Carolina Panthers receiver Dwayne Jarrett's difficult rookie season on the field has given way to problems off it.
Jarrett was charged with driving while impaired.
Jarrett was pulled over in the Charlotte suburb of Mint Hill at 3 a.m., said police spokesman Lt. Sergio Carrera. An officer spotted Jarrett's car cross the center line and run a red light, Carrera said. Jarrett later failed field sobriety tests.
PATRIOTS/MOSS: A woman who obtained a restraining order earlier this year in a domestic violence case against New England Patriots star Randy Moss wants the case dismissed.
Rachelle Washington, 35, filed papers March 3 with the Broward County Circuit Court.
BROWNS: The Cleveland Browns have signed offensive lineman Lennie Friedman to a one-year contract.
LIONS: The Detroit Lions signed Chuck Darby to a three-year deal, nearly a week after agreeing to terms with the defensive tackle.
Detroit hopes the seven-year veteran can help fill the void left by trading Shaun Rogers to Cleveland.