Professor

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/card...rdsnb0305.html

The Cardinals have signed two free agents this week and are working to add a third. But the financial constraints imposed by receiver Larry Fitzgerald's contract might bring acquisitions to a standstill, coach Ken Whisenhunt said Tuesday.

"It's pretty close to that," Whisenhunt said. "If we had to sign other free agents, we'd have to make roster space, which obviously would involve cutting players. That's part of it as well."

The Cardinals were believed to be about $10 million under the cap before tendering their restricted free agents and signing tight end Jerame Tuman on Monday and defensive end/outside linebacker Travis LaBoy on Tuesday.

Fitzgerald is due to make $14.6 million this year and $17.4 million in 2009. The team is negotiating with his agent, Eugene Parker, to extend the contract and lower those figures.

The two sides are not close to a deal and are believed to be apart on both years and money.

Meanwhile, Whisenhunt said the team has no other free-agent visits scheduled, although the club remains interested in some players.

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Professor

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/110474

Let’s be honest. It’s hard to take the Cardinals’ side in a contract dispute because they’ve so often been A) wrong; B) miserly; or C) Bidwillian.

We just assume that when negotiations hit a snag, it’s the Bidwills’ fault.
Fitzgerald: Talks progressing with Cardinals

It’s no surprise, then, that the Cardinals are being criticized both locally and nationally for their current stalemate with wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.

To recap: Because Fitzgerald hit incentive clauses written into his rookie contract, he’s due to earn $14.6 million this coming season and $17.4 million in 2009.

The Cardinals, as you might imagine, aren’t too thrilled to be paying one player $32 million over the next two seasons, so they want to renegotiate Fitzgerald’s contract while giving him a lower salary cap number.

So far, negotiations have gone nowhere, and the impasse has handcuffed Arizona in free agency.

It couldn’t afford to pursue free agent guard Alan Faneca without knowing Fitzgerald’s cap number, and it lost linebacker Calvin Pace to the New York Jets on Monday.

The result: General manager Rod Graves, who negotiated Fitzgerald’s rookie deal, is being portrayed as a bumbling fool who has his job only because he’s too weak to stand up to the Bidwills.

There’s no question Graves’ tenure as GM has been a disaster. The Cardinals are 28-52 under his watch.

But to castigate him for the Fitzgerald deal is wrong.

For a long time, the Cardinals were criticized for not offering contract incentives like escalator clauses and voidable years.

Now they’re being shelled because they stuck those modern amenities in Fitzgerald’s deal and he lived up to them? That’s not fair.

You can second-guess the Cardinals for including escalator clauses in Fitzgerald’s deal rather than voidable years. But even if Arizona had done the latter it eventually would have had to re-work Fitzgerald’s contract or let him walk as a free agent.

Should Arizona have had the foresight to renegotiate with Fitzgerald prior to the 2007 season, knowing the crippling affect he might have on the salary cap?

Maybe.

But consider this: The Cardinals thought they were going to a run-oriented offense that suited coach Ken Whisenhunt and protected second-year quarterback Matt Leinart. It seemed unlikely that Fitzgerald would make his second Pro Bowl — adding $5 million to his deal — while splitting touches with Anquan Boldin.

But then Leinart fractured his collarbone, and the Cardinals started throwing the ball more with Kurt Warner. Plus, Boldin missed four games due to injuries, giving Fitzgerald the opportunity to put up monster numbers.

It was the perfect storm of circumstances that led the Cardinals and Fitzgerald to this moment.

Now, Arizona would be ripe for criticism if it were doing nothing to remedy the problem. But that’s not the case.

The Cardinals reportedly have offered Fitzgerald a deal that includes $25 million to $30 million in guaranteed money and would make him the highest-paid receiver in the NFL.

If that’s the case — and we can’t be sure, given that neither side is talking — how is Arizona in the wrong?

Does Fitzgerald have the right to play under his current deal? Absolutely. He earned every penny of the $32 million.

But if he can become the league’s highest-paid wideout — and, in the process, help the team by lowering his cap number — why not accept the offer?

Look, I’ll be the first to jump on the Cardinals if it turns out they’re low-balling Fitzgerald. But until then, I’m taking the Bidwills’ side on this one.

Boy, there’s a sentence I’d never thought I would write.

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