Our biggest problem.....Fitz.

[slanidrac16]

Before the early games yesterday it was said that Fitzgerald contract will need to be re-worked, (as we all know). He will earn something crazy like 14mil this year and 18 mil in 09. As the reporter said , thats a number the Cards just can't live with.

Ok. I ask this.

Why in the world would he want to redo his contract? Is there anybody out there that can tell me why he would?
What in the world will the Cards have to offer to get this done?
And what happens if we can't get it done?
Do we cut him?
Do we keep him and pay him 14m next year?

This could get ugly.

 

[Billy Flynt]

Fitz, from all reports, is happy here. He can still get his 14M but just not in the next 12 months. This is not novel. Many players get in this situation and rework deals that in the long run are better than what is on the table. The Cards are definitely committed to keeping Fitz.

 

[Shane]

If he doesnt restructure then we could just cut him. Thus he has NO MONEY GUARANTEEED.

Its really in the best interest of both parties to rework his deal IMO.

 

[slanidrac16]

If he doesnt restructure then we could just cut him. Thus he has NO MONEY GUARANTEEED.

Its really in the best interest of both parties to rework his deal IMO.

Ah, but he would have guaranteed money from the any of the other 31 teams that belly up to the bar.

 

[slanidrac16]

Heres another thought .......just how many more holes could we fill with that kind of money freed up?

Would you let Fitz go in exchange for say

Faneca
Suggs
and Berrian?

 

[overseascardfan]

Heres another thought .......just how many more holes could we fill with that kind of money freed up?

Would you let Fitz go in exchange for say

Faneca
Suggs
and Berrian?

We could probably get those guys w/ our cap now keeping Fitz after a restructure.

 

[Goodyear Card]

I agree slanidrac. We have to hope that Fritz wants to help improve the team. Everyone complains when a player wants a new contract before his old contract is finished but in this case no one expects the Cardinals to live up to the contract they signed. Why the Cardinals would agree to a contract that would pay someone $15M one year and $19M the next year is unbelievable. The only leverage we have is cut Fritz after June 1st when most teams will have spent most of their cap room.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

I think this is a legitamite point you bring up and something that bears watching going into the off season.

Fitz more or less has the team by the balls.

 

[Assface]

This is a ridiculous discussion. Fitz isn't going anywhere. He's a multiple time Probowler who's in his early 20's. I can't believe anyone would even think about cutting him. Even with his large cap hit for next year the Cardinals still have plenty of cap room going in to next year.

1. Why would he redo his contract this offseason? He'll do it because he can sign a long term contract with a big signing bonus. That's better for a player and agent than 1 or 2 year3 of $15M. I'm sure Joeshmo can break down how much actual guaranteed money Fitz has left on his deal and how much he can get by restructuring this offseason.

2. As as questioning how much of a team player Fitz is, his godfather and mentor got fired by the team and Larry responded one of his best years and played hurt. He's as professional as they come.

He's not untouchable but in order for him to leave we would have to be getting a LOT in compensation. I don't see anything to worry about here.

 

[slanidrac16]

I think this is a legitamite point you bring up and something that bears watching going into the off season.

Fitz more or less has the team by the balls.

That's my thought in a nutshell. I hope the Cards have a plan B. Like I said above, if you take the cap space we have at the moment and add 15m to it we could , without a problem, sign Dansby,Pace, Faneca, Suggs and Berrian. Their options would be limitless.
You could omit Suggs and insert Micheal Turner or Asante Samuels. Adding Samuels would free us up to take a rb to eventually replace James.

Wow. Food for thought.

A duo of Boldin and Berrian would be similar only better to Ward and Holmes of the Steelers.
How much better would our D look if we added Suggs and Samuels?

 

[joeshmo]

As the reporter said , thats a number the Cards just can't live with.

Thats were the reporter is wrong. We can live with it and have plenty of cap space even with his deal as is.

 

[Assface]

Thats were the reporter is wrong. We can live with it and have plenty of cap space even with his deal as is.

I know there was a quote a while back from Rod Graves saying they'd like to renegotiate Fitz's deal but if not they'll pay him the $14M. The team is certainly willing to live with that number.

 

[azsouthendzone]

This is a ridiculous discussion. Fitz isn't going anywhere. He's a multiple time Probowler who's in his early 20's. I can't believe anyone would even think about cutting him. Even with his large cap hit for next year the Cardinals still have plenty of cap room going in to next year.

1. Why would he redo his contract this offseason? He'll do it because he can sign a long term contract with a big signing bonus. That's better for a player and agent than 1 or 2 year3 of $15M. I'm sure Joeshmo can break down how much actual guaranteed money Fitz has left on his deal and how much he can get by restructuring this offseason.

2. As as questioning how much of a team player Fitz is, his godfather and mentor got fired by the team and Larry responded one of his best years and played hurt. He's as professional as they come.

He's not untouchable but in order for him to leave we would have to be getting a LOT in compensation. I don't see anything to worry about here.

Amen. He's never going to get cut. Talking about it is silly.

 

[joeshmo]

Ah, but he would have guaranteed money from the any of the other 31 teams that belly up to the bar.

We wont cut him. Plenty of cap space to deal with his current deal. He does not have us by the balls. Plus we could easily just trade him to another team that is not of his choice and wont try to give him a new deal. Why wouldn't he just play out the remainder of his deal then. Injury can happen at any time and why up front money is the far more important thing to a player then the actual total value of the deal.

 

[joeshmo]

Players want to force teams to restructure or extend before their deals are up. did we not learn anything when we were trying to sign Rolle and his mother was talking about the negotiations on the official site.

 

[ajcardfan]

If he doesnt restructure then we could just cut him. Thus he has NO MONEY GUARANTEEED.

Its really in the best interest of both parties to rework his deal IMO.

I agree that it is in both parties interest to do a deal.

But, cutting him would be ridiculously foolish. A huge chunk of that 14mil is in the form of incentive bonuses which he's already earned. So, they'd still be on the cap AND we'd have to absorb the rest of his signing bonus.


Graves said we could live with the number, and I 100% believe he wasn't whistling Dixie on that one. My concern, when he said that, was that it will lead to an excuse for being conservative in free agency, when we can still be aggressive, for a guy or two, even with Fitz' full number.

 

[Shane]

I agree that it is in both parties interest to do a deal.

But, cutting him would be ridiculously foolish. A huge chunk of that 14mil is in the form of incentive bonuses which he's already earned. So, they'd still be on the cap AND we'd have to absorb the rest of his signing bonus.


Graves said we could live with the number, and I 100% believe he wasn't whistling Dixie on that one. My concern, when he said that, was that it will lead to an excuse for being conservative in free agency, when we can still be aggressive, for a guy or two, even with Fitz' full number.

I agree with you completely!

 

[slanidrac16]

We wont cut him. Plenty of cap space to deal with his current deal. He does not have us by the balls. Plus we could easily just trade him to another team that is not of his choice and wont try to give him a new deal. Why wouldn't he just play out the remainder of his deal then. Injury can happen at any time and why up front money is the far more important thing to a player then the actual total value of the deal.

So then let me ask this, joeshmo. Do you really think Fitz, or for that fact ANY WR is worth 15 mil or say 1/8th of your cap space?
Would it be totally stupid to think the Cards would consider trading him for player(s) and picks and use that money to shore up 3 or 4 positions?

Let's pick a scenario. The Vikings( only because it's always the Vikings) offer RB Chestor Taylor, FS Dwight Smith and their first round pick this year.
With the money saved we go and get Faneca and Suggs to go along with our 2 first round picks which we could use for a CB and DE?
I'm just picking names off the top of my head. But would we not be better off.

 

[slanidrac16]

I agree that it is in both parties interest to do a deal.

But, cutting him would be ridiculously foolish. A huge chunk of that 14mil is in the form of incentive bonuses which he's already earned. So, they'd still be on the cap AND we'd have to absorb the rest of his signing bonus.


Graves said we could live with the number, and I 100% believe he wasn't whistling Dixie on that one. My concern, when he said that, was that it will lead to an excuse for being conservative in free agency, when we can still be aggressive, for a guy or two, even with Fitz' full number.

I know the Cards would never just cut him. And I will admit that I don't really know how to break down the salary cap. I'll leave that to joeshmo.
It just seems to me Fitz holds all the cards and really doesn't even need to consider redoing his deal, at least not until this time next year.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Why is there always this assumption that free agency is like it is in Madden? Give money, player comes. It doesn't work that way in the real world. Innumerable times the Cardinals have been the bridesmaid and not the bride in the world of free agency. Used to bid up contracts and little else.

You can't say Fitzgerald equals these players because you don't have those players. There is no guarantee you would get those players. And there is no guarantee that any of them would perform at a pro bowl level on this team. Our history with signing free agents isn't all that great.

You don't cut your pro bowl players. You especially don't cut pro bowl skill position players. Because if you don't pay them, someone else will.

Finally, you aren't even factoring the way the Cardinals do contracts. We spent over 8 million on freaking Al Johnson last season because we gave him a roster bonus and not a signing bonus. The way the Cardinals do contracts, 14 million isn't the magnificient number you think it is.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Oh and I am going to guess that Fitzgerald will want a 5 year deal. That leaves him enough time to sign one more monster deal in his career.

 

[AntSports Steve]

I'm pretty sure a good chunk of that 14M is bonuses Fitz has earned with his 2 pro-bowl spots, so even if he's cut, the Cards still would have to pay that bonus money and it would be on the cap even if he was traded.

I think the Cards will pay his $14M this year and worry about Fitz next offseason. There is still a ton of money out there and he's worth a lot. As the years go on, more and more teams will once again become in cap trouble. The new CBA just gave teams a 3 year free pass. This offseason will probably be the last time that teams have lots of available cap space.

The Cap to most teams is like a credit card. They find ways to max out their cards to the limit. The new CBA just raised the credit limit faster than teams can charge (there wasn't enough good free agents to spend it all on). I'm predicting that in 2009, there will be a few teams that have to cut players to get under the cap. In 2010, it's back to exactly where things were before the CBA, 2/3 of the NFL in CAP trouble.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Heres another thought .......just how many more holes could we fill with that kind of money freed up?

Would you let Fitz go in exchange for say

Faneca
Suggs
and Berrian?

Nope. All three of those players on there best day do not produce what Fitz can do on one leg.

You might be filling holes but then you are making a HUGE hole at WR, on offense, and losing one of the most dominating players in the NFL.

 

[Totally_Red]

Don't even think about cutting or trading Fitz. Playing at least nine games a year in a dome means this team can and should concentrate on having a decent passing game. Cutting Fitz decimates that passing game and the offense.

He's the best receiver in the NFC IMO. He's much younger and doesn't drop balls like Terrill Owens. You don't trade or cut very young players who are happy to be on your team and are in the prime of their careers. It doesn't pass the "duh" test.

 

[Shogun]

SMH @ this silly talk coming up...again.