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With the Arizona Cardinals getting players back into the fold, the question becomes who is going out?
Josh Weinfuss of ESPN talked about the one player on the Cardinals who needs a change of scenery and to no ones surprise, it was David Johnson:
Something about him isn’t right and hasn’t been for a couple of seasons, whether it’s injuries or his offensive fit. After being touted as a primary piece of the offense by coach Kliff Kingsbury, Johnson recorded fewer than 800 yards from scrimmage. He’s still in top physical shape and has shown glimpses of the player he was in 2016, especially as a receiver, but a new setting — possibly with Tampa Bay and his former coach Bruce Arians — might be what Johnson needs to get back to his old, dominating ways. — Josh Weinfuss
The problem becomes that there is no way you can straight up cut David Johnson because of the dead money implications.
With the re-siging of Larry Fitzgerald and now D.J. Humphries, the Cardinals will have a reduced amount of cap space anyways.
However, you could entice a team by adding a pick to things.
While Brock Osweiler was traded with a second round pick, the Cardinals are unlikely to want part with a two and Osweiler’s salary was even more than David Johnson’s.
Jess Root suggested a bit of a weird situation in the Cardinals changing some of Johnson’s salary into a bonus, bringing the dead money down to $10 million instead of $16.2 million. Meaning the Cardinals instead of losing $2 million in caps space get about $4 million in space.
However, could you combine the two?
Why not shoot over a fourth round pick, I know what a waste of a draft pick*, and maybe turning a bit into a bonus as well?
Why not get some cap relief for a player that seems less than enthused to be here still?
Good luck either way.