The Larry Fitzgerald trade rumors from earlier in the season took a backseat after the trading deadline and now that it's in the offseason they have come up again and teams like the New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers, Carolina Panthers and Green Bay Packers could be interested in the whiteout and this comes as he said that he would be willing to restructure his contract.
The trade could go down only if the two sides cannot agree and that's where this angle comes from, but the receiver told reporters during Super Bowl week that he could like to stay with the team. According to Pro Football Talk, Fitzgerald said that he would "absolutely" be willing to restructure his deal so that the $18 million cap figure can go down and that is the main reason why any trade speculation came up in the first place. A deal like this usually doesn't go down and Fitz has always been adamant about remaining with the Cardinals, but that is a big number and if the two sides cannot figure something out, a trade could come down in the offseason or next season.
The team came very close to making the playoffs after being terrible in 2012 and now they are looking to build on this season for the future and they have the luck of playing in the division with two of the best teams in the NFC. The future is tough as well with a $21.5 million cap hit for the 2015 season and that is just not sustainable for a franchise trying to get to the playoffs and they also have to deal with the fact that the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers are in their division as well.
Fitzgerald is getting older and many wonder if past his age of 31 he can keep up his numbers and while he had a great season in 2013, he did not lead the team in receiving and he is going to make over $12 million next season and while that is a ton of money in the future, teams like the Niners, Patriots or Panthers could be willing to take a risk. The team is coming off an 10-6 season and Fitzgerald put up solid numbers with 82 catches for 954 yards and 10 touchdowns and that makes it two years in a row that he was under 1,000 yards after doing it all but two of the previous eight seasons and now the team must decide what is next.
