The Arizona Cardinals have signed Larry Fitzgerald to a new contract and now that he is back, the team can concentrate on free agency going into the 2015 season and names like Frank Gore, Greg Hardy, Mark Ingram CJ Spiller, Adrian Peterson, Michael Crabtree, Jordan Cameron and Shane Vereen could be potential targets this offseason for Bruce Arians.
The Cardinals are coming into the season after making the playoffs and they ended up losing to the Panthers on the road despite having a better record. The team lost Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton to injuries and moving forward Arians could look at adding a veteran backup or another young player like Brett Hundley in the draft as insurance. According to ESPN.com, Fitzgerald is returning on a two year deal after agreeing to a new contract and that brings his cap number down from a staggering $23 million.
The Cardinals now have freed up a nice amount of cap space and that should allow GM Steve Keim to make some moves this offseason. At ESPN.com, Cardinals reporter Josh Weinfuss took questions about the offseason and free agency and names like Adrian Peterson, Greg Hardy and Mark Ingram came up. Hardy is a free agent after his issues with the Panthers and while the Cardinals need help up font on the defensive line, they may not want to bring on negative attention with Hardy.
The Cardinals need help at linebacker and at running back, as they were one of the worst rushing teams in the league last year. Weinfuss writes that Adrian Peterson could be a target if he is made available, while Frank Gore, Mark Ingram, Ryan Mathews, Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen could be other options. Fitzgerald is coming off one of his worst statistical seasons with the Cardinals and coupled with the fact that he had a huge contract, the Cardinals and the WR needed to get a new one done.
According to Fox Sports Arizona, the two parties are had been talking about a new contract deal all offseason and they finally got it done due to the fact that there was a major deadline for the Cardinals and Fitzgerald in March when he was due an $8 million roster bonus. The team wanted to keep Fitzgerald and he wanted to stay and that is why he agreed after also ealing with a restructured deal last season for the team. Keim said after the season that the team was not planning to release Fitzgerald and clearly they followed through on that. Fitzgerald appeared on television on NFL Live on ESPN earlier in the offseason and had said that he would be willing to rework his deal.
Fitzgerald getting his cap number down from $23 million was the only way he would remain with the Cardinals, as one anonymous source told Adam Schefter at ESPN that his number is "unworkable" if the Cardinals wanted to make the playoffs again. Fitzgerald is 31 years old and while he is a great talent, his $16.25 million salary was too much for him based on his age and production.