The Arizona Cardinals may look at a Larry Fitzgerald trade after this season and it comes as he is making a ton of money over the next few years and teams like the Oakland Raiders, Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots all could be interested in making a move, as the Raiders need a spark, while the Browns may want to add some weapons after Percy Harvin was offered to them earlier in the year.
Fitzgerald is one of the top receivers in the league and while the Cardinals are rolling, the team may have to make a tough decision after the season about the WR. 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. 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.
The Patriots had been mentioned as an option after the loss to Kansas City weeks ago, but that appears to be over now that they are rolling again. Vincent Jackson had also reportedly been shopped and teams that were interested in Fitzgerald could look at Jackson as an option instead after the season. 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 keeps himself in great shape and even with that, he is getting into his 30s and that is a ton of money to pay a wide receiver. Fitzgerald is set to make $8 million in base salary next season and $15 million the year after that and his cap hit will be over $23 million for next year. The team likely will look for a trade, as the dead money on the contract over the next two seasons is in the double digits and that is a lot to keep on. Fitzgerald could look at reworking his deal and that could be the first option the team and WR talk about before a trade comes down.
This season Fitzgerald has 44 catches for 625 yards and he is in line to get past where his numbers were last season and the year before, which were both below his usual averages. Fitzgerald was as consistent as anyone in his career, going for at least 90 catches in four of five seasons between 2007 and 2011 and also having five straight years of at least 1000 yards. As he continues to age, the Cardinals will have a tough decision to make and another team could step up and make a deal for Fitzgerald this offseason.
