In a similar, but still very different, situation as the Seahawks are in with Trufant, the Cardinal fans are not going to be very happy with one of the fan favorites. Larry Fitzgerald, who has one of the most absurd contracts ever right now, he counts 16 mill against the cap this year and 18 next, thanks to Denny Green, has now cost the Cardinals their best shot at being a contender.
"They would 100 percent be in this thing if Larry had redone his deal," said the agent. "Larry is going to cost them Alan Faneca. It’s a fact."
Considering that the Cards have offered to make Fitzgerald the highest paid receiver in the league, and he has rejected the offer, fans will not be happy. Especially considering it isn't often the Bidwells open up the checkbook.
The two top teams in the NFC West right now seem helpless to stop free agents from leaving, much less sign any. Fitzgerald's contract has tied the Cardinals hands, much the tag on Trufant. Unfortunately, they may find out what some teams already know, it is not about winning the offseason. What hurts the Cardinals more, is that they still need to improve if they want to reach the mountain top.
END OF POST
To those fans who are upset by Trufant's share of the cap space, her e is some good news. According to Reuben Franks at SI.com, the Hawks have a cap of $124 mil after counting unearned Likely To Be Earned bonus money. The story:
ReplyDeletehttp://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers
/reuben_frank/03/01/cap.figures/index.html
I know Michael already touched on this with his Pork Chop story, but Franks gives figures for every team, and the Hawks are sitting pretty nicely. All our NFC West rivals have $6-8 million less.
The way I look at this is don't write checks your ass cant cash. Don't sign a player to that sort of crazy deal if you have the intention of keeping them at the tail end when they are reaching the maximum money potential of the contract. I like Fitz, hes a great reciever and I am a fan of most of the guys out of Pitt. He is coming off arguably his best year so you can't blame him too much for not wanting to restructure his contract for less money.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how much gall a player can have. No wide receiver in football is worth a 16 million dollar hit. I know inflation is soaring right now, but thats friggin bogus. Still, this is good for the Hawks, so I'm not complaining :)
ReplyDeleteNext year, however, we're going to succeed not on the weakness of the NFC West as we have the last two seasons, but on the strength of our team.
LOL
ReplyDeletebobbyk
this is where ruskell is great, don't see the hawks in this bind.
ReplyDeleteLet's see...if Fitzgerald had a bad season the team would cut him or demad a restructure. He had a good season and the team wants him. Seems fair for him to stick to the terms of the AGREED upon contract.
ReplyDeleteI think Fitz And Tru both studied GREED 101 in college and both got a masters degree in PAY ME I dont care if the team goes to hell because of it
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I think Fitzgerald is being greedy...his team is not going to be as good as it might be based upon holding the team to the contract. But he has a solid right to do so. The team fully has their options to cut him loose, trade him or hold the contract. They are choosing to do the latter.
ReplyDelete- Brian
Everyone is greedy.
ReplyDeleteWe can make a list and hate almost every Seahawk if we wanted to.
Walt was greedy; year after year after year...
Shaun was greedy; he played hard until he got paid.
Branch left NE b/c he was greedy.
JP came here b/c he wasn't going to get offered more from another team.
Dion Grant came here because the Seahawks offered him the most money, not because it was his life long dream to play for Seattle.
Jurevicius ressurected (sp?) his career here and then bolted for home. I don't blame him.
Kerney had to choose between two teams who would offer that much money. Why didn't he sign with Alt, Phil, Min, Buf, etc? It's b/c they wouldn't offer what Seattle or Denver would.
Wistrom came here only b/c of the money.
DJ is leaving b/c he's going to get more somewhere else.
Guys like Mack Strong are special. Even though he's not close to Hall of Fame material, he's ring of honor waiting to happen.
bobbyk
Fitzgerald told KTAR (620 AM) radio, “I want to be a consummate professional, a team guy. I don’t want to do anything to hurt the team.”
ReplyDeleteUmmm, hello?? You just cost your team Alan Faneca you idiot.
Oh.. and thank you btw!
Hey Mr Steffies I just read on one of the other Seahawk blogs that he heard on the espn radio that Alge has agreed to a contract with the Hawks and it should be formalized in the next few days...I dont know if this guy heard this today or yesterday...Can you reserch this?...Thanks Mike in Auburn California
ReplyDeleteThere was a report in the Atlanta Journal Constitution that said Crumpler was close to signing. His agent was quoted as saying this. Then several hours later he backed off this when talking to Seattle reporters. Many outlets, like ESPN and PFT are picking up the national story, but have ignored what the Seahawk beat writers got. So it is no surprise. He may sign this weekend, but currently he plans to visit one more team and then make up his mind, which is code for who is offering the most
ReplyDeleteI don't see how people are blaming Fitzgerald for this. The Cardinals offered him a contract, he accepted, and both parties signed it. Paying him that much money is dumb but the fault lies entirely with the Card front office, not with Fitzgerald.
ReplyDeleteNow they have 2 choice, pay him and keep him or release him and save the money. Is he worth 16 million? I don't think so, but the fact that the Cards are keeping means he's worth that much money to them.
I called this a long time ago, and the response was unanimous ridicule and laughter.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mr Steffes....Mike in Auburn CA
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why anyone would blame Fitzgerald for this. He signed a contract, that had escalators. Why would he have wanted those in it, because he hoped he would reach them. Now that he has, his FO is mad that they have to pay to keep him, or let him go.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there is no reason for him to renegotiate his contract. He will make ridiculous money for two years, and still be young enough to get a fat FA contract when those two years end.
His fans should be mad at the Cards FO, not at the player.
Also, every player on the Cards is greedy, as is just about every player in the NFL. NO ONE is worth the millions they get paid. If his teammates had gone to the FO and said "hey, we were thinking, if you take a little out of all of out contracts, we would have enough to sign Faneca, and we want you to do that" they would have. But they didn't.
-Griffin
These guys risk their future health for lots of money. In case you hadn't noticed, it's all about money.We are all greedy.
ReplyDeleteHawks interested in TJ Duckett?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d806a3052&template=with-video&confirm=true
Mike,
ReplyDeleteDo you really believe that the Hawks can't keep their FA's from leaving? What FA has left the Hawks that they wanted to keep? I don't count Josh Brown, that little puke left cause he was pissed off .2 mil in a contract of a little over 14 mil is not what makes you leave. Also, in the idea of this post contradicts what you've said in earlier posts about the Hawks being able to free up cash if they so desired.
So what are you saying?
-Griffin
A typo-less version*
ReplyDeleteMike,
Do you really believe that the Hawks can't keep their FA's from leaving? What FA has left the Hawks that they wanted to keep? I don't count Josh Brown; that little puke left cause he was pissed off. .2 mil in a contract of a little over 14 mil is not what makes you leave. Also, the idea of this post contradicts what you've said in earlier posts about the Hawks being able to free up cash if they so desired.
So what are you saying?
-Griffin
FYI... This is where Fitzgerald is viewed as being wrong here... He could have restructured his contract... with an extension.. say 6 yrs @ $50 mil.. guaranteed $20M or whatever.. then he would have been a much smaller cap hit this yr.. say $8M.. leaving the Cards room for signing Faneca @ $8M. Fitzgerald would still get his money.. have an big dollar extension and his team would have been able to sign Faneca also. You all are right when you state AZ did this to themselves.. but usually this is handled, successfully, with an restructure and extension.. especially if the player 'wants to remain with the team, loves the family that the team & mngmnt is, and wants to stay' blah..
ReplyDeletecorrections welcomed
Fitzgerald's agreeing to that deal would make no sense at all. The Cards said he is going to stay on their team. If that is true, over the next 2 years he makes 33 million, with 33 million guaranteed. The other deal would guarantee him LESS, and give him way less per year. In two years, he will hit the FA market. The only way that it would be fiscally beneficial to him to sign that contract would be if he wouldn't make 17 million over 4 years (which is about what he is making per year currently), so as I said earlier, all the Card's FO is asking him to do is get paid less than they agreed to earlier, which is bogus.
ReplyDeletecorrections welcome...I just don't see any.
-Griffin
theres a rumor I heard that the cards might trade fitz to the eagles for lito sheppard and a draft pick
ReplyDelete"this is where ruskell is great, don't see the hawks in this bind."
ReplyDeleteHuh? I see the Hawks in a big bind thanks to Ruskell. Franchising Trufant was stupid, eating $9.5 mil of cap. Calling a player stupid because he wants all the money he can get while he's still healthy, in his prime and sees others at his position getting big bucks is also stupid. GM types (and fans) want to players to do what they would never do, perform at a high level for way under market value. I remember the Seahawks wanting Mike Rheinfeldt to continue on his contract negotiating/capologist role at half pay under Whitsett. Guess he was greedy going somewhere else for awhile. "Take one for the team" sounds great to fans but front office guys have no loyalty to players who do indeed "take one for the team". It's a cut throat business folks.
Fitz has no reason at all to restructure. he can collect his 35 million dollars over the next 2 years as a card and then get another huge payday when his contract expires. at that point he will only be 26, in his prime, and the biggest FA on the market, period.
ReplyDeleteThis is the time of year when watching the football news is like watching sausage being made. This is when the awful truth is out there for everyone to see: the only ones who are "loyal to the team" are the fans, everyone else is in it for the money. Lots of money. Lots and lots of money. More money than most fans will ever see in a single lifetime. Shoot, even that guy who goes on IR before the season begins probably makes more money than you or me.
ReplyDeleteAre these 2 yrs for Fitz guaranteed?? I don't think so... I'll be shocked if AZ pays him that.. (I hope they do.. it'll kill the Cards for yrs) he'll either be cut or traded and his contract restructured, because no one is gonna pay him that kinda jack. If AZ actually pays him that, they truly are a bunch of absolute idiots. 'I love this place, I wanna stay here, I wanna play here' is all BS.
ReplyDeleteSure, we are all greedy in some ways. But there are the select few who see beyond money to what is actually best for them overall.
ReplyDeleteWHERE you live, WHO you work with, WHO you work for, the appreciation of your work, and other items are all factors a MATURE person looks at before jumping for the money.
I was a worldwide I.T. manager at one time, and was up for another 40% salary increase, which would have put me in the high hundred thousands range (and this was almost 10 years ago). However, the reason they were so eager to give me a raise was that they were hoping the greed of them money would help me overlook the massive commitment in hours it took (80 plus per week), the 4-6 months of travel per year, and the complete lack of excercise and balanced life the job required to do it well.
I instead, took a job for much less in the town I live in, and am much the happier for it. I now work with people I like, for a boss who actually understands that I need to have a life outside of work as well. I have time to spend with family, I have time to volunteer at church and with the needy, I have time to exercise, and I do important work that keeps the city running. It's all good, and I took less money, and would NEVER regret it.
Some guys get it, some don't, and think all the money will make them happy. It's an ego game, but in the end, it's you and your ego that's usually the loser.
That's why I respected Dielman for making the decision he made last yr... I didn't like it , but I respected him alot more for it.
ReplyDeleteI just read where Fitz's 2 yrs are guaranteed... AZ are idiots.. that's the bed they made..
ReplyDelete