Who do the Cardinals pay in 2017?

What the Arizona Cardinals have built for the 2016 has a chance to be special. What they have for the 2017 and beyond is what raises question marks, but there is one position in particular that is interesting and that is the wide receiver position.

Arizona has a special group of wide receivers, with Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd, John Brown and J.J. Nelson, with Jaron Brown sitting as the fifth wide receiver, that is a strong group.

You look at 2017 though and the group loses Fitz and Floyd, and all of a sudden you have a different type of group. John Brown and J.J. Nelson are strong WRs, but they offer different abilities than Fitz and Floyd. Whether Fitz comes back is a different question than whether or not Michael Floyd is worth re-signing, and that's what should be explored right now.

When you look at Michael Floyd, you see a dynamic, if inconsistent wide receiver that never materialized into the heir apparent everyone had hoped he would become.

His finish to the regular season in 2015 had people excited, but his play in the 2015 playoffs was... well,  he caught two touchdowns so that was strong.

In his five best games Floyd put up 25 catches for 536 yards and 4 touchdowns, which are without a doubt great numbers. The area of concern comes in at the fact in the other 11 games Floyd had 27 catches 313 yards and 2 touchdowns.

What do you get with Michael Floyd? His good is wide receiver one play, his bad is wide receiver three type numbers and that is where the question comes in, how much do you pay Michael Floyd, knowing you have to pay John Brown immediately after him?

Brown through his first two years had slightly better production than Floyd his first two years, but what about their under Carson Palmer time? They're basically identical. Brown has 113 receptions 1699 yards and 12 touchdowns, Floyd has 99 receptions 1690 yards and 12 touchdowns.

This is to show, you have two very good wide receiver two options on your roster, and you'll need to pay both of them, so which one do you pay, or do you sign both and hope one steps up as the teams number one?

Allen Hurns of the Jacksonville Jaguars just signed a four-year $40 million contract, the UDFA wide receiver has nearly identical numbers to Brown and Floyd over his first two years, with four more touchdowns. The difference, Jacksonville has a young star at wide receiver in Allen Robinson, who is a clear top tier wide receiver, Arizona lacks that player.

That pay day for Hurns sets the market, now the question is, can you justify paying Floyd that much money? If Brown is likely to be kept, this is speculation based on the fact Bruce Arians drafted him, where does that leave Floyd?

Is he content with making wide receiver two money? If that is $10 million a season, can you justify paying two players that way if you are Arizona?

Should Arizona strike now and lock Floyd up for what looks to be the wide receiver two market? Do they let him play the year out, see if he establishes himself as a true WR one and test free agency?

Should Floyd be a priority over Brown?

All of this to say, it's a good problem for Arizona to have in 2016, but with an eye towards 2017, there are a lot of questions on the roster.