Larry Fitzgerald won't be cut, Arizona Cardinals have $23M cap number 'baked into' numbers

With the successful season the Arizona Cardinals have had, there has not been a lot of discussion of the team's salary cap situation in 2015. One of the biggest questions heading into next year is what the Cardinals will do with Larry Fitzgerald and his contract.

Because of a restructure, he will count $23.6 million against the salary cap, a crippling number. But a report from Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk that came out on Sunday indicates the team will not release Fitzgerald.

General manager Steve Keim was asked about the Fitz contract when he was on his weekly radio spot on Arizona Sports 98.7, and he reiterated the goal the team has of having Fitz retire as a member of the Cardinals.

He also addressed, at least to some extent, the contract and cap number.

"I don't want to get into it too deep, but with planning purposes, financially, from a cap standpoint, all those sorts of things, we have Larry's number already baked into our numbers," Keim explained.

That doesn't mean they are standing pat. Keim acknowledged they are having discussions with Fitzgerald's agent, Eugene Parker, to make sure he remains in Arizona.

This is a tough topic for Cardinals fans. There is no doubting Fitz' value to the team. Even while he is no longer a dominant receiver, his absence really was hard on the offense.

However, his cap number makes things very difficult for next season.

And for fans locally, this sounds all too familiar. Steve Nash and the Suns had this dance for a couple of years. The team said it had every intention on keeping him until he retired, but then traded him to a team fans hate because of salary numbers.

How will things turn out with Fitz? How much less money will he be willing to be paid to remain in Arizona? Will he be willing to take less money at all? Will the Cardinals eat that cap number next season?

It is going to be a tough offseason with a number of financial decisions to make. Larry Fitzgerald's contract is at the top of that list. We will see how it plays out. At the least, it looks like he will not be cut.