With the Cardinals and receiver Larry Fitzgerald unable to restructure a contract that pays him salaries of more than $14 million in 2008 and more than $17 million in 2009, there's an emerging question as to whether Fitzgerald really wants to work out a deal to help out the team.
Fitzgerald professes that he wants to stay with the team. But his refusal to give the team cap relief is creating the impression that he's saying the right things, but thinking (and doing) something different.
Writes Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic, the situation "calls into question Fitzgerald's sincerity and commitment to winning."
Somers also writes that Fitzgerald's agent, Eugene Parker, presently is pushing for a four-year deal that would pay Fitzgerald between $25 million and $30 million in guaranteed money.
Given that the Cardinals have created a situation in which Fitzgerald is due to make more than $31 million over the next two seasons, his willingness to take guaranteed money south of $30 million represents a significant concession, on the surface. But to tie that kind of money to a four-year contract creates a huge per-year load on the salary cap, making it not much different than a six-year deal with $37 million to $45 million in guaranteed money.
In this situation the true motives of the various parties will only be discerned by scrutinizing the details. Is this about Fitzgerald being fair, or is it about the player and his agent turning the screws on an organization that gambled and lost regarding the huge-money escalators that Fitzgerald's performance has triggered?
By asking for a four-year deal with that much money guaranteed, we're starting to think it's the latter.
There has been speculation and rumor about a trade that would send Fitzgerald to the Eagles. Though the Cardinals by all appearances have demanded too much in return for Fitzgerald, the team is in a real bind on this one.
To be sure, it's a mess that the team created. And whether Fitzgerald does anything aimed at genuinely helping the team get out of this situation will be proof positive on whether his image of being a team-first guy is real, or whether it's a bunch of self-serving Eddie Haskell bullcrap.
this guy who wrote this article is a jerk - Kent Somers says it himself
He is questioning the guys commitment to the team and etc, which is BS, the dude signed his deal completely incentive laden and all and now because he reached all those goals set forth in his contract, he should have to give up the money.
WHY?
what was the purpose of signing the incentive laden deal when, in this writer's account, he should renegotiate to help the team. They should have thought about that before signing him to that deal.
How much do we hear about Teams not wanting to pay a player so they just cut him, Fitz just has the opportunity to turn it around on the owner who fuc*ed up to begin with.
this guy who wrote this article is a jerk - Kent Somers says it himself
He is questioning the guys commitment to the team and etc, which is BS, the dude signed his deal completely incentive laden and all and now because he reached all those goals set forth in his contract, he should have to give up the money.
WHY?
what was the purpose of signing the incentive laden deal when, in this writer's account, he should renegotiate to help the team. They should have thought about that before signing him to that deal.
How much do we hear about Teams not wanting to pay a player so they just cut him, Fitz just has the opportunity to turn it around on the owner who fuc*ed up to begin with.
Its their problem, not his
Im just glad that they might have to trade him soon.
He's not going anywhere. Why would the Cardinals want Lito Sheppard when they already have a pretty good defensive backfield and Reggie Brown, who is a mediocre receiver who hasn't even had 1 good game.
He's not going anywhere. Why would the Cardinals want Lito Sheppard when they already have a pretty good defensive backfield and Reggie Brown, who is a mediocre receiver who hasn't even had 1 good game.
I wouldent say he hasent had a good game because he has had a couple.
It's not about that Beast, it's about the fact that they cannot afford him and actually get better as a team. Next year he will be due so much, they will have to cut him. If they don't trade him for something, they risk getting nothing and still losing him
Fitzgerald to eagles getting more likley
Fitzgerald to eagles getting more likley
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