NFL Wire Notes | Larry Fitzgerald to get $40 million deal from Cardinals

PHOENIX — Larry Fitzgerald, a two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver, has agreed to a $40 million, four-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals.

The team announced the agreement Tuesday. 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 about $17.4 million in 2009.

Those figures left the Cardinals with little room under the salary cap to sign free agents.

Fitzgerald, 24, led the NFC in receptions with 100 last season, for 1,409 yards and 10 touchdowns.

He and Anquan Boldin, 27, have formed one of the league's top receiving tandems.

Fitzgerald's contract includes a no-trade clause.

"There was a great deal of dialogue through this whole process, and everybody got what they wanted," he said.

Chiefs sign Darling

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs signed Devard Darling, shoring up the receiving corps after the release of Eddie Kennison.

Ex-Washington State player Darling, who was Baltimore's third-round pick in 2004, played in 30 games in four seasons for the Ravens. The 25-year-old caught 20 passes for 331 yards with three touchdowns. Eighteen of those receptions came last season, when he played in every game.

The 35-year-old Kennison played for the Chiefs for seven seasons and was their top receiver for most of that span.

Gleason retires

NEW ORLEANS — Steve Gleason, who cemented his place in New Orleans lore with a blocked punt during the Louisiana Superdome's reopening after Hurricane Katrina, has decided to retire.

Ex-Washington State player Gleason, who turns 31 next Wednesday, said, "The time's right. I'm getting married. I can walk away with my health. I want to be active and adventurous when I'm 80 years old. If football was all I had in my life, I probably could play three or four more years. Who knows?"

Gleason spent 2007 on injured reserve after having microfracture surgery on his right knee. He said the operation was a success and believes his knee will be close to fully recovered soon.

Gleason blocked a punt in the Saints' victory over Atlanta on Sept. 25, 2006 — the first game played in the rebuilt Superdome after Hurricane Katrina.

Some longtime New Orleans sports observers say the block, which resulted in the game's first touchdown, sparked one of the loudest, wildest eruptions of cheering heard or seen at the stadium.

"I don't think I've ever heard anything in my life louder than that moment," Gonzaga Prep graduate Gleason recalled. "Undoubtedly, as far as on the football field, the defining moment in my career will be that play."

Notes

• Rachelle Washington, 35, who obtained a restraining order earlier this year in a domestic-violence complaint against New England receiver Randy Moss, 31, wants the case dismissed, court records in Florida show.

• Carolina Panthers receiver Dwayne Jarrett was charged with driving while impaired in Mint Hill, N.C.

Police spokesman Lt. Sergio Carrera said Jarrett, 21, failed field sobriety tests before he was given a breath test.

Jarrett was taken to Mecklenburg County jail and released on a $1,000 bond. He has a court date today.

• The Panthers released center Justin Hartwig, 29.

• Safety Keith Davis, 29, a special-teams ace, signed a two-year contract with Miami after spending the past five seasons with Dallas.

• The Detroit Lions signed former Seahawk Chuck Darby, 32, to a three-year deal, nearly a week after agreeing to terms with the defensive tackle.