With roster cuts coming up before the beginning for free agency, the Arizona Cardinals have asked wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald to restructure his contract and according to team president Michael Bidwell, the star wideout needs to be “more flexible.”
Fitzgerald, the best wideout in franchise history, is scheduled to make $16 million in 2015, which is quarterback money. If Fitzgerald won’t take a pay cut, the Cards will likely cut him and put him on the open market.
“We’ve talked about that,” Bidwell said. “We’ve been working hard on trying to make sure that he’s got a contract that compensates him appropriately… But it takes two to come to an agreement. So I think that’s the first order of business.”
It’s been four seasons since Fitzgerald cross 1,000 yards, but the Cardinals’ quarterback situation since Kurt Warner retired had a lot to do with that. In 2013 with Carson Palmer healthy for 16 games, Fitzgerald came up just 46 yards short of 1,000 yards and scored 10 touchdowns. The 31-year-old star will have plenty of suitors if he comes free in free agency, but there will be no team willing to pick up his $16 million tab.
The Cards can feel comfortable setting Fitzgerald loose after the emergence of third-year receiver Michael Floyd and rookie John Brown. Arizona is looking to add a big free agent and Fitzgerald is going to have to play along or find another job.
“Free agency is going to be big for us,” Bidwill said. “We’ve got to get the contract restructured with Fitz, because look at what we did last year in free agency, with one significant signing, took care of that left tackle with Jared Veldheer, who did a tremendous job. That’s the kind of impact we want to have this year in free agency.”
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Buccaneers part was with Josh McCown
This year’s free agent class gained a quarterback Thursday when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cut Josh McCown after a disappointing 2014. McCown was brought in to be the immediate starter in Tampa after a career rejuvenating eight games with the Chicago Bears in 2013. McCown started 11 games for the Bucs, completing 56.3 percent of his passes for 2,206 yards and 11 touchdowns with 14 interceptions. McCown was 1-10 as a starter for the last place Bucs.
The move saves Tampa Bay $4 million on the 2015 salary cap and clears the way to draft either Oregon’s Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston in April’s NFL Draft. Mike Glennon, who started five games in 2014, is the only QB on the Bucs roster under contract.
McCown has been mostly a career back-up, with his most significant playing time coming in Arizona in 2005 and Oakland in 2007.
Parys Haralson and Shayne Graham re-up with Saints
The Saints didn’t wait until March to lock in players they wanted to keep, reaching one-year agreements with linebacker Parys Haralson and kicker Shane Graham Thursday. Haralson didn’t light the world up with his stats in New Oreans’ 3-4 scheme, recording 35 tackles and 3.5 sacks, but he did enough to remain with the team as a stop-gap as they look to upgrade the position.
Graham will begin his 13th season in September, a veteran who has played with nine different NFL teams, with his longest stint with the Cincinnati Bengals from 2003-2009. Graham was signed late in the 2013 to replace struggling kicker Garrett Hartley.
Giants sign CFL star Brett Jones and waive David Wilson
New York tried to bolster its offensive line Thursday by signing Brett Jones, the top offensive lineman from the Canadian Football league. Jones was born and went to college in Canada at the University of Regina. He spent last season with the Calgary Stampeders where he was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman and Most Outstanding Rookie.
They also waived David Wilson, who never played a down of football in 2014 and retired last August because of neck injuries. Wilson’s 2014 salary was guaranteed under the contract he signed as a first-round pick out of Virginia Tech in 2012 so the cut was a formality to save $1.3 million in salary cap space.
RG4 makes his social media debut
Robert Griffin III on Twitter usually leads to a PR disaster, but Thursday’s post was anything but. The third-year quarterback announced that he and his wife Rebecca are having a baby, by tweeting out this photo on his birthday.
https://twitter.com/RGIII/status/565972214361882624
No word on what they’ll name the baby if it’s a girl.
