Cardinals plan to keep Larry Fitzgerald despite $23.6 million cap hit

Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim said the team has no plans to cut wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald despite his $23.6 million cap hit next season. It was reported on Sunday that the team will either renegotiate, trade or extend Fitzgerald, but will not cut him despite the large cap hit.

Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim said the team has no plans to cut wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald despite his $23.6 million cap hit next season, he said on Arizona Sports 98.7 on Monday.

ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio reported on Sunday that the team will either renegotiate, trade or extend Fitzgerald, but that the Cardinals will not cut him despite the large cap hit.

When asked about the report on Monday, Keim said the team has been planning for Fitzgerald to be on the team next season.

“We have to make good business decisions,” Keim said. “I don’t think it’s any secret that we said all along that it is our intent to have Larry Fitzgerald retire a Cardinal. I don’t want to get into it too deep, but with planning purposes and financially, from a cap standpoint and all those sort of things, we have Larry’s (cap) number already baked into our numbers.

“Now, any kind of business decisions moving forward, renegotiations with Larry and that sort of thing, we’ve had ongoing talks with (agent) Eugene Parker and we will continue to have ongoing talks. But again, the best I can tell you is that it is our intent to keep Larry and make sure he stays a Cardinal the rest of his career.”

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Fitzgerald, 31, has 61 catches for 755 yards and two touchdowns this season. He has played his entire career with the Cardinals since being the No. 3 pick in the 2004 draft. He is the franchise's all-time leader in catches, receiving yards and touchdowns.

The Cardinals lost 35-6 to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday and dropped from the No. 1 seed to No. 6 in the NFC. They finish the regular season on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.

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- Paul Palladino