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According to an announcement posted on what appears to be his personal web site, Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald has agreed to a four-year, $40 million contract with the team.
Fitzgerald’s site says that he’ll get $30 million guaranteed, and $33 million over the next three years.
He had been scheduled to earn more than $14 million in salary in 2008 and more than $17 million in salary in 2009 based on eight-figure escalators for which he qualified based on his performance during the first four years of his career.
The deal also supposedly contains a clause that permits Fitzgerald to block any trade without his consent (which protects him from being traded to one of the really bad franchises . . . like the one he currently plays for).
March 11th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Surprise, it’s a happy ending for both parties! The Cardinals get to save some face (and more importantly, some cap space), and Fitz gets a guarantee on a huge wad of cash. I had previously commented here that the onus was on the Cardinals to propose to Fitzgerald a reasonable alternative. This clearly succeeds.
Maybe the Bidwells aren’t so… er… uh… never mind.
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March 11th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Is this a precursor to a trade?
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March 11th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
One more receiver Philly won’t be getting. Darn!
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March 11th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Let’s hope that Carolina isn’t one of his “veto” teams. Peppers for Fitzgerald has a nice ring to it if you’re a Panthers fan.
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March 11th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
He went from 31M over two years to 40M over 4. He also is stuck in Arizona for 4 instead of 2, and loses the chance to become a free agent in an uncapped year. There has to be more to this story.
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March 11th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
[…] to Larry-Fitzgerald.com for breaking the NFL news of the day (via PFT), which is that Larry Fitzgerald and the Arizona Cardinals have agreed on a contract […]
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March 11th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
As I understand the cap rules, no this is not a precursor to a trade. All that bonus amortization from the “new” guaranteed money would accelerate into the Cards’ cap if he was traded. Or something like that.
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March 11th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Fitzgerald gave the Cards a big break. He was going to get $31 million over the next two years, per his contract of $14 and $17 mil. So he is adding two years for $9 million total to get to $40 mil. Cards should thank him.
And Peppers for Fitz would be a great deal for Carolina, but not such a good deal for the Cards.
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March 11th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I think the Bidwells have a check they owe to Kent Somers and a couple media outlets for some stories making Fitzgerald look like a greedy obstacle to the Cardinals winning. Because in reality, Fitz just signed himself up for 4 more years of mediocrity.
As to the possible uncapped year, it’s doubtful that the Cards would have been able to pay his ‘09 salary, so a cut or trade and new contract would have probably happened before ‘10 anyway. And who knows if Fitz will have another year of ‘07 numbers with the situation at QB.
Since Fitz’s agent Parker was saying before this news came out that the contract they wanted would have $30 mil guaranteed and be for 4 years, I think the Cardinals gave Fitz what he wanted.
Still, with $15 mil guaranteed coming to him already this season, and upwards of $25mil guaranteed when he signed a new contract potentially for 2009, I can’t help but think that Fitzgerald missed out. And for what… ?
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