By PFW staff
March 11, 2008

After several months of often-intense negotiations, the Cardinals finally have agreed on a new contract for star WR Larry Fitzgerald that instantly creates badly needed salary-cap room. The four-year deal, which was first announced on Fitzgerald’s Web site, www.larry-fitzgerald.com, is reportedly worth $40 million, with Fitzgerald expected to make a total of $33 million over the first three years. The deal includes a $15 million signing bonus, which Fitzgerald is expected to receive officially before the the end of Tuesday, plus a $5 million option bonus in 2009. Most importantly for the Cardinals, Fitzgerald’s cap figure has been reduced by more than half, from $16.4 million to about $8 million.

The PFW spin

Suffice it to say, both the Cardinals and GM Rod Graves can breathe a lot easier after finally taking care of what was considered the team’s top priority this offseason. When Tuesday started, the Cardinals were a league-low $310,078 under the salary cap and were, in effect, paralyzed in terms of making any kind of moves.

Although the roughly $8 million they have picked up as a result of Fitzgerald’s new deal still keeps them in the league’s lower third in terms of available cap money, the additional cap space at least allows the Cardinals to consider signing other free agents, as well as their 2008 draft picks.

Graves and the Cardinals made a major concession when they agreed to a four-year deal; the team much preferred a six-year agreement, which likely would have eliminated a similar contract impasse down the road. As it now stands, when Fitzgerald’s new deal expires at the end of the 2011 season, he will still be only 28 years old and in line for yet another substantial payday before his career is over.

For now, though, Fitzgerald couldn’t be a happier camper, and with the team suddenly having a little bit more flexibility, the mood in the desert has become a lot more upbeat understandably. Fitzgerald had said all along that he wanted to very much remain on the Cardinals, but rumors that the team would be forced to seriously consider a trade continued to linger.

Turns out, though, Fitzgerald was true to his word. Don’t be shocked if the next move the team makes is to keep its talented WR crops mostly intact by re-signing UFA Bryant Johnson, the team’s more-than-serviceable No. 3 receiver.