Fitzgerald gets $120 million contract extension from Cardinals has 0 comments

Aug 21st 2011, 18:50 | FFN-Score: 25 points

You know that self-imposed deadline of Sept. 4 for Larry Fitzgerald and the Cardinals to get a contract extension done? Well, you can forget it. A new contract, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, has been completed.

And the figure is a mind-blowing number: eight years, $120 million with $50 million guaranteed.

Before the final figures were tallied, the Cardinals front office said it had no problem making Fitzgerald one of the highest-paid players in the league -- and the best-paid player in team history -- and to see him retire as a Cardinals player. Now, it seems like there's a pretty good chance they’ve done it (Fitzgerald will turn 28 at the end of this month).

"It's interesting," Fitzgerald said. "I told Mr. (Michael) Bidwell how much I hate this part of sports. This is the game I love. I'm so passionate about it. When you talk about the business side, it makes me uncomfortable. I'm really happy to put it behind us."

And though we all assumed that Fitzgerald wouldn't want to sign a long-term deal unless the Cardinals made marked improvements in free agency last offseason, Fitzgerald said that wasn't the case.

"I'm not one to try to hold a hammer over anybody's head," said Fitzgerald, who already owns most of the team's receiving records (as well as the league's playoff receiving records, accumulated during the team's Super Bowl XLIII run). "This is Mr. Bidwell's team. He's going to do everything he can to make this organization go. The activity in free agency this year is something I haven't seen since I've been here. That's a sign of things to come. We're going to continue to be aggressive making this team better. I'm confident that's going to happen."

And considering Arizona already has given QB Kevin Kolb a $63 million deal (with $20 million guaranteed), the Cardinals are a team that has to feel confident that they’ll have a high-powered pass offense for years to come.

And in case you want to see the entire news conference from Saturday night, here it is.