The Arizona Cardinals may look at a release or trade with Larry Fitzgerald this offseason heading into 2015, as the wide receiver is due to be a huge salary cap hit in the future and if the sides split, teams like the New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns, Oakland Raiders, Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts could be interested in snagging him.
According to Fox Sports, sources have said that Fitzgerald doesn't expect to be with the Arizona Cardinals next season, although it's not specified whether it will be through a trade or release. Fitzgerald is set to cost over $20 million on the salary cap next year and while he still is an excellent player, the wide receiver is not at the elite level he once was. The cap hit is "unworkable" according to Fox Sports and the source reported that Fitzgerald is not looking to restructure his contract this offseason.
Fitzgerald previously restructured his contract for the team, agreeing to a new deal to go down from his $18 million cap hit, giving the Cardinals $10 million in cap space for this season. The Cardinals have double digit free agents hitting the market this offseason and the $23 million cap hit for Fitzgerald could hamstring them from signing some of those players back. The Fox report says that Fitzgerald is not willing to re-work his deal again and that could force the Cardinals to either trade or release the 31-year-old receiver.
Fitzgerald has been utilized less and less over the past couple years with the emergence of Michael Floyd and John Brown this season and that is another reason why a split is likely. Over the past three seasons Fitzgerald has not reached 1000 yards after doing it in four straight years and he also put up just 63 catches this season, his lowest since his rookie year. While Fitzgerald led the Cardinals in receptions this season, he was second to Floyd in yardage and had just two touchdowns, a career low.
The salary cap is expected to be about $140 million next season and that would make Fitzgerald over $15 percent of that space without a new deal. Earlier in the week general manager Steve Keim said that the team was not looking to release Fitzgerald and that the team has had "ongoing" talks with Fitzgerald's agent. Fitzgerald is currently on an eight year, $120 million deal that he signed back in 2011 and he has spent his entire 11-year career with the team.
While this would be shocking in the sense that Fitzgerald has been part of the team for over a decade, it's not completely unsurprising to anyone following his situation the past couple years. Fitzgerald renegotiated once and with his huge salary cap number looming, many have expected the Cardinals to either trade or release Fitzgerald at some point. The Fox report says that Fitzgerald is not happy about how he has been used and he has not been pleased playing in the slot so much.
Reports came out last year that Fitzgerald could be moved in the offseason, but the team obviously did not go through with it at the time. Teams like the Patriots, Browns, Raiders, Seattle Seahawks, Vikings, Miami Dolphins and Colts could be interested in Fitzgerald is cut, but it's unlikely they could work out a trade with his massive contract.
