Report: Larry Fitgerald to sign 8 year, $120 million deal

[Deus Irae]

Per Schefter

Filed to ESPN: Arizona will sign WR Larry Fitzgerald to a record 8-year, $120 million deal that includes close to $50 million guaranteed.

Twitter

 

[BradyFTW!]

Holy ****. That is pure insanity

 

[FalconHeavy]

Holy !@#!@#$ do they even have a QB ? I know this guy is talented but ..120 MILLION

 

[NEGoldenAge]

Holy ****. That is pure insanity

I dunno, it depends. In a couple of years the cap is gonna skyrocket. If they have cap room to spare now, it's a good investment. If not, they can backload it a bit and take advantage of the growing cap. He's young, durable, has a great attitude and is the best reciever in the game.

 

[patsfan13]

$15M/yr is franchise qb $$$$, nutty.

 

[ausbacker]

Yep, if reported as true that's pure insanity.

 

[patriot lifer]

I wonder what the signing bonus was.

 

[jah]

Whaaaaaaaaa? I didn't know 8 year deals were even allowed anymore!

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Fitzgerald could almost BUY the Cardinals himself!

 

[UofApatsfan]

Worth every penny from a PR perspective for the Cardinals. Michael Bidwill still needs to sell Cardinals fans on the idea that he'll run this team differently than his dad did, and that 2008 and 2009 were more than two lucky years of a HOF QB carrying a horribly managed team. If Fitzgerald left in free agency fans would stop showing up and the Cardinals would be looked at the same way they were pre-2008, them being able to resign Fitz sends the message that they're more committed to winning than they ever were with Bill Bidwill running things.

 

[Coach42]

I'm glad we signed Brady before this happened. Market is all out of whack when WR are making QB money.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Worth every penny from a PR perspective for the Cardinals. Michael Bidwill still needs to sell Cardinals fans on the idea that he'll run this team differently than his dad did, and that 2008 and 2009 were more than two lucky years of a HOF QB carrying a horribly managed team. If Fitzgerald left in free agency fans would stop showing up and the Cardinals would be looked at the same way they were pre-2008, them being able to resign Fitz sends the message that they're more committed to winning than they ever were with Bill Bidwill running things.

I think you're spot on with why they did it, but if they think that paying a WR $15M per year for the next 8 years is going to facilitate actually winning more, then they're terribly mistaken. That's top-tier QB money, and the Cardinals last year demonstrated exactly why you don't pay WRs QB money.

 

[PatsFanStnfrd]

Desperation begats these deals. Teams whose prospects are not terribly bright have to pay up. That is why Namdi Asomugha was able to get 15 million/year from Al Davis and why Fitzgerald gets 15 million/yr avg. to stay in the dessert. They could NOT get the same dollars elsewhere.

(Asomugha signed for only 12 mil with the Eagles and reportedly, the Jets and Cowboys were offering 10 million.)

 

[UofApatsfan]

I'm glad we signed Brady before this happened. Market is all out of whack when WR are making QB money.

This isn't indicative of the market. Andre Johnson is a better receiver and got significantly less money a year ago. It's a unique situation that made it so AZ was willing to significantly overpay.

 

[Banjo]

well, so much for my dreams of seeing Brady to Fitz.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

LOL @ Arizona giving him that much $$

 

[Deus Irae]

well, so much for my dreams of seeing Brady to Fitz.

There's always Madden.

 

[ausbacker]

This isn't indicative of the market. Andre Johnson is a better receiver and got significantly less money a year ago. It's a unique situation that made it so AZ was willing to significantly overpay.

Give the large majority of the Cardinals roster is filled with average to below average players they have to fill out the salary cap somehow don't they.

 

[UofApatsfan]

I think you're spot on with why they did it, but if they think that paying a WR $15M per year for the next 8 years is going to facilitate actually winning more, then they're terribly mistaken. That's top-tier QB money, and the Cardinals last year demonstrated exactly why you don't pay WRs QB money.

Yeah it might not lead to winning more, but it shows the fans there's a commitment and a genuine effort to put a winning team on the field. While it's not an extremely desirable option, it was their best option. It's not like they had a franchise QB they coulda thrown that money at instead of Fitz.

It was a screw up on Bidwill's part tho. They wouldn't have had to crawl into the fetal position so willingly and give into Fitzgeralds demands just to keep ticketholders calm if they didn't send a scare into ticketholders a year earlier by cheaping out on Boldin, Dansby and Rolle. Regardless of that, doing whatever they could to keep Fitz isn't something Bill Bidwill ever would have done. If he was still their owner, there would be countless threads on this site about the Patriots pursuing soon-to-be free agent Larry Fitzgerald who has little to no chance of resigning with the Cardinals.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

well, so much for my dreams of seeing Brady to Fitz.

Who says Brady won't be the Cardinals starting QB in 2017?