Cardinals DB Tyrann Mathieu tells the NFL Network Thursday that he and his agent spoke with the team on Thursday and they asked him to accept a pay cut, per Gregg Rosenthal.
According to Ian Rapoport, Mathieu is being asked to take a “large pay cut” that’s based on his expected role in their new defense. Rapoport adds that Mathieu could very well end up being a free agent in the coming days.
Last week, Jason La Canfora reported that based on everything he’s heard at the Combine this week, he would be “very surprised” if Mathieu is back with the Cardinals for the 2018 season.
There has been speculation going around the past few weeks about Mathieu’s future with the Cardinals and GM Steve Keim recently said they are in the evaluation process with his contract.
The Cardinals could use some cap room as they rebuild parts of their roster and try to find a new quarterback to replace Carson Palmer and Mathieu is among the easiest sources of cap space.
Last year, there was some talk that the Cardinals were willing to trade him, so it will be interesting to see if there’s a deal to be made or if they consider releasing him outright.
Mathieu, 25, is a former third-round pick of the Cardinals back in 2013. He’s entering the third year of his five-year, $64.1 million contract that included $35 million guaranteed and stands to make base salaries of $5.75 million and $10.75 million over the next two years of the agreement.
Mathieu stands to make base salaries of $4.75 million and $5.75 million over the next two years of his contract.
According to OverTheCap.com, releasing Mathieu will free up $4.8 million of available cap space while creating $9.3 million in dead money. However, Arizona could improve those figures to $11 million of available cap space while creating $3.1 million in dead money if they designated him as a post-June 1 release.
In 2017, Mathieu appeared in all 16 games and recorded 78 tackles, a sack, two interceptions, a forced fumble and seven pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 61 cornerback out of 120 qualifying players.
We’ll have more regarding Mathieu as the news is available.
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