I believe according to Fitzgerald contract, he met certain incentives in the 2007 season that made his salary $14.5 million in 2008 and 17.3 million in 2009 plus the obvisous prorated bonus when he first signed his contract.
The way I understand it, if Arizona traded him then they would only be responsible for his prorated bonus, same goes for a trade.
Any team that does try and trade for him will only do so if he agrees to a new contract. No team is going to have him on the books for a salary of $14.5 million which would be at least 8 percent of the total cap for a single player. Not even Dallas.
Arizona might ask for the Moon for him but realistically, they aren't going to get even close. He will be a financial obligation to the new team as well as what they have to give up to get him. It will drive down the price of what Arizona takes. And on top of that, the closer we get to free agency, the more desparate Arizona will get in making a trade.
Personally, I would give our 2nd round, Bobby Carpenter and Marcus Spears and call it even. In fact that might be to much right there. I would offer it and say there it is, it goes down after that.
Some blogs have New England and Philadelphia offering there 1st round picks, 2nd round picks and more to get him. I think that is a bunch of BS, based on how those two teams usually do business.
As to Arizona saying he wasn't going anywhere, it is the same thing all teams say at one time or another and it usually holds no water. Just a marketing and contract ploy most of the time.
Guess we will see over the next 10 days.
