The Arizona Cardinals may look at a Larry Fitzgerald trade after the season due to the size of his contract on the salary cap and if the team deals, the Oakland Raiders, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins all could be interested in making a move, as they may have the cap space to do it and adding someone like Fitzgerald would be a game changing move.
According to ESPN.com writer John Weinfuss, who covers the Cardinals for NFL Nation, the team may consider a deal after this season due to the fact that they have 11 players coming into free agency next year. The team is going to have to make some tough decisions and Fitzgerald may be one of them, as the team also will have to pay Andre Ellington down the line along with John Brown and Michael Floyd. The Cardinals love Fitzgerald and his superstar status makes it unlikely that something will happen, but his cap number goes up to $23 million and that is a tough number to deal with for the Cards.
ESPN.com writer Adam Schefter reported last year that a trade for Fitzgerald was in play for the offseason, but that never ended up going down. Weinfuss wrote a blog in response to that about the Cardinals rebuilding a bit and that is another reason why Fitzgerald likely would be traded or released over the next year. Obviously that didn't happen, but the logic is sound and while the team is playing well this season, once the year ends the hard decision time will be coming.
Fitzgerald is in on a seven year deal worth over $110 million and his salary will nearly double next season to $15 million from $8 million this year. The biggest reasons for a move are money and next year he will be a $23 million cap hit and his contract would have $14 million in dead money, meaning a release is not likely. Fitzgerald has all the talent in the world and based on his past performance he is worth the money, but the Cardinals may not be able to reconcile paying an ageing star that much on the cap. The NFL is about team building and while the Cardinals have put together a great defense and a young offense, they are going to have to make some hard choices moving forward.
The emergence of Floyd and Brown may make it easier for the Cardinals to make a deal, but the fans obviously will not like it if Fitz is traded. The past two years Fitzgerald's numbers have been down and he has now been less than 1000 yards in each of the past two seasons after doing it five years in a row. Last season he had 82 catches for 954 yards and the season before that was his worst since he was a rookie, going for 71 catches for 798 yards and he is on pace to fall under that again.
Fitzgerald has 30 catches in seven games this season for 443 yards and while this move will be tough to work out, the Cardinals may have to make a deal. The team is going to have a number of free agents next year and Bruce Arians and company may move Fitzgerald as a result of that.
