3:44pm: Cardinals president Michael Bidwill confirmed to Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link) that the team has spoken to Fitzgerald’s agent and is “excited” about the possibility of working something out.
1:31pm: The Cardinals are expected to approach Larry Fitzgerald this offseason about the possibility of restructuring his contract, and the star receiver is open to the idea, he tells Fox Sports 910 in Arizona (Twitter link). According to Fitzgerald, he’ll “absolutely” be willing to restructure his deal if “that’s what needs to be done.”
Fitzgerald, 30, signed an eight-year, $120MM extension with the Cardinals in 2011, keeping him under contract through the 2018 season. According to an Arizona Republic report earlier in the month, Fitzgerald isn’t interested in accepting a pay cut, so reworking his deal would likely just involve converting a portion of his base salary into a bonus that could be prorated over the course of the contract. While that would reduce Fitzgerald’s massive $18MM cap number for 2014, the Cardinals would increase the cap hits down the road in that scenario, so we’ll have to see if the two sides can reach a compromise.
On Tuesday, word broke that the Patriots mulled the idea of acquiring Fitzgerald last offseason. Like the Cards, the Pats don’t have a ton of cap flexibility, but it’s still possible that they could consider pursuing him again, especially if he’s willing to reduce his 2014 cap number.
Fitzgerald appeared in all 16 games for a sixth straight season in 2013, racking up 82 catches, 954 yards, and 10 touchdowns with Carson Palmer throwing him the ball.
Patriots would need to give up their 1st this year, 4th this year and either Ridley, Vareen, or Bolden (if bolden then a conditional 4th in 2015 that becomes a 3rd if they make it to the championship game and a 2nd if they make it to the Super Bowl) especially if Fitzgerald restructures his contract.