http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/...unt_on_it.html
Larry Fitzgerald is a lot like a $1 million luxury car.
A lot of us would love to wake up tomorrow morning and find one in our driveway, but the chances of it happening are about the same as Randy Moss catching a pass from Donovan McNabb this fall.
Fitzgerald, of course, is the Arizona Cardinals wide receiver on the wish list of just about every Eagles fan. Over the weekend, some media reports surfaced that coach Andy Reid's team had made trade offers in an attempt to pry the former Valley Forge Military Academy star away from the desert.
It's not happening.
A league source said Saturday night that the Eagles have talked to the Cardinals about Fitzgerald, but the discussions have never gone beyond an inquiry as to whether Arizona planned to trade its star wide receiver. The answer has always been the same - absolutely not.
The story, however, has not gone away, and that's because the Cardinals have not been able to restructure Fitzgerald's contract, which is worth $14.6 million in 2008 and $17.4 million in 2009, thanks to some ill-advised escalator clauses that Arizona inserted in the receiver's rookie contract.
An article in Saturday's Arizona Republic said that the Cardinals and Fitzgerald's agent, Eugene Parker, are not making any progress in negotiations to restructure the receiver's deal. That story fueled speculation that the Cardinals are going to have to trade Fitzgerald.
But the league source who said the Cardinals are not going to trade Fitzgerald also noted that Arizona does not have to trade him now. The Cardinals, in fact, have said all along that they will keep Fitzgerald even if they have to pay him $14.6 million in 2008.
The league source said that even if the Cardinals had a desire to deal Fitzgerald, ridding themselves of the frustrating negotiations and his huge salary-cap number, the urgency is gone now. The source noted that the best free agents are off the market and that freeing up salary-cap space won't help the Cardinals a bit for the 2008 season.
The counter-argument is that the Cardinals could help their cap situation for the future and get better by dealing Fitzgerald for quality players and draft picks. According to that same Arizona Republic story, however, the Cardinals are not interested in either cornerback Lito Sheppard or wide receiver Reggie Brown.
Sheppard, who is almost certainly going to be traded, is the Eagles' best bargaining chip right now. If the Cardinals don't have an interest in him, it seems unlikely that the Eagles could make a deal for Fitzgerald even if Arizona wanted to make one.
And as the Eagles have been told, the Cardinals do not want to deal Fitzgerald. If, at some point, the Cardinals change their mind, they're almost sure to contact the Eagles.
A trade for Larry Fitzgerald? Don't count on it
A trade for Larry Fitzgerald? Don't count on it
Linear Mode
