Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic reports that the Cardinals and DB Tyrann Mathieu are making progress on a restructured contract that would lower his cap number of $14.1 million for the 2018 season.
Last week, Mathieu told 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.
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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