Associated PressThe NFL notebook …
CHARLOTTE ó The Carolina Panthers have signed Toniu Fonoti, giving the guard another chance to overcome weight issues and return to the NFL.
The former second-round pick was out of the league last year after being released by Atlanta before training camp began. He played in only six games in 2006.
Fonoti is listed as 6-foot-4 and 350 pounds. He started 15 games as a rookie with San Diego in 2002. After spending the following season on injured reserve, Fonoti started all 16 games in 2004 for the Chargers.
But Fonoti’s weight soon soared to close to 400 pounds and he has failed to become a full-time starter since.
TITANSNASHVILLE, Tenn. ó Offensive lineman Benji Olson, one of the last remaining Titans from Tennessee’s lone Super Bowl appearance in 2000, retired Thursday after 10 seasons with the team that drafted him.
Punter Craig Hentrich is now the only player from the Super Bowl squad who has been with the team since then. Olson started 140 of the 152 games he played, not including nine playoff games. Nobody has started more games with Tennessee since 1999 than the 6-foot-4, 320-pound Olson.
CARDINALS
TEMPE, Ariz. ó Linebacker Clark Haggans signed a one-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday. Haggans, an unrestricted free agent, joined the Cardinals after eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who drafted him in 2000 out of Colorado State.