Mathieu and Cardinals "Not Close" on contract per ESPN

With the off season comes the time to talk about the same subject, ad nauseam, until it gets resolved, and for the Arizona Cardinals, the biggest question they will have to answer is what to pay Tyrann Mathieu and when they will pay it.

According to John Clayton of ESPN, the Arizona Cardinals and Mathieu are no closer to having a deal done.  Clayton was on with Doug and Wolf of Arizona Sports 98.7FM and said, "To be paid as one of the top defensive back he's probably asking for about $13 or $14 million. My guess is, I have no doubt the Cardinals will offer more than $10 million, but I don't think they're close to the number Mathieu is asking for."

That's been the question, what do the Cardinals want to view and pay Mathieu as?  I've said I think 5 years $65 million is where I would expect a contract to come in, but the guaranteed money is the sticky part.

Mathieu's play is worth $40 million in truly guaranteed money, but his injury history makes that number difficult to swallow from an organizational stand point.  Without knowing the details, you have to guess that the injuries and the truly guaranteed money are the parts that need to be figured out, and could be what the hang up is.

The other part is, the Arizona Cardinals could just be waiting until training camp cuts are made in order to push some of his money into this season and there is no story here.