The Arizona Cardinals may look at a Larry Fitzgerald trade at the NFL trading deadline this season and teams like the Oakland Raiders, Seattle Seahawks, NY Giants and Minnesota Vikings as well as the New England Patriots could be potential options for the Cards, as they have a ton of money invested in the aging receiver moving forward and they may want to get rid of his contract heading into the 2015 season.
According to ESPN.com writer John Weinfuss, the Cardinals may look at a deal with Fitzgerald due to the fact that he is owed so much money over the rest of his contract. While Fitzgerald is a superstar player for the Cardinals, Weinfuss writes that the team may consider making a trade because they have 11 free agents coming up off the books next year and they also will eventually have to pay Andre Ellington. Fitzgerald is getting up there in age and with the emergence of John Brown and Michael Floyd, he could be more expendable than in previous years.
No one doubts how great Fitzgerald is and while his numbers have been down over the past two seasons, he still is a very talented player. The Cardinals are one of the top teams in the league this season and moving Fitzgerald may not be the best move in the short term, but long term it makes more sense. Weinfuss writes that the team will not just deal Fitzgerald for nothing and that they would be looking for strong compensation and that if it doesn't happen this season, it could go down after the year is over. The Oakland Raiders, Vikings and Patriots have all been mentioned as varied options for Fitzgerald and the Jets would have been before they traded for Percy Harvin. The Raiders need a boost with Andre Holmes and James Jones as their only solid options, while the Vikings have Cordarrelle Patterson and Fitzgerald has family connections back to Minnesota.
The Patriots had been mentioned as an option after the loss to Kansas City a few weeks ago, but that appears to be over now that they are rolling again. Vincent Jackson has also reportedly been shopped and teams that are interested in Fitzgerald could look at Jackson as an option instead. The Cardinals have a solid roster of WRs along with Fitzgerald and with his numbers decreasing over the past few years, they could decide to move on as his contract hit gets much bigger.
Fitzgerald has a cap hit of $23 million next season followed by $17 million and while he is a great player, that is a ton to be on the hook for at his age. Fitzgerald has been under 1,000 yards receiving in the past two seasons after going five straight seasons before that. Fitzgerald had also been consistent above 90 catches but that had gone down as well. Part of that has had to do with bad QB play and while the team now has Carson Palmer, it may not be enough.
A deal may not go down this season, but Fitzgerald will keep coming up in rumors as his cap hit goes up and a team like the Patriots or Raiders could make a big move for him.
