Reworking Larry Fitzgerald’s Contract A Priority For Cardinals, But “It Takes Two”

On Wednesday, Cardinals president Michael Bidwill mentioned that restructuring WR Larry Fitzgerald‘s contract will be their “first order of business” this offseason.

“I think, immediately, we’ve got to address Larry Fitzgerald’s contract,” Bidwill in an interview with Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN. “We’ve talked about that. 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.”

Bidwill added that reworking Fitzgerald’s deal is important for their plans in free agency.

“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.”

Fitzgerald, 31, is in the fourth year of his eight-year, $128.5 million contract that included $50 million guaranteed. After reworking his contract, Fitzgerald received an $11.75 million signing bonus and has a base salary of $1 million for the 2014 season.

Next year, Fitzgerald has an $8 million roster bonus that’s due in March to go along with his base salary of $8 million in 2015.

After that, his salaries are $15 million and $14.75 million for the final two years of the agreement.

Fitzgerald finished the regular season with 63 catches for 784 yards and two touchdowns over the course of 14 games. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 31 receiver out of 110 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding the Cardinals and Fitzgerald as the news is available.