NFC West Notes: Cardinals, Fitzgerald, Martz

The Cardinals will hope to have suspended linebacker Daryl Washington in action for 2015 but they’ll plan for the worst, as Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com writes. “He’ll be facing the issue with the domestic violence and there has been no determination of what happens there,” president Michael Bidwill said. “He was only suspended for the drug issue, so we want to make sure we understand what that (other punishment) is. Last year, we learned about his suspension after free agency. This year we are going to plan to make sure we address all the issues not knowing whether Daryl will be back for part of next season or all of next season. ‘Next man up’ is real but we have to make sure we’ve gone into free agency and addressed that situation.” More from the NFC West..

  • Bidwill went on to express confidence that Larry Fitzgerald will be back with the team in 2015. “Larry and I have met about it, just he and I talking about it, and I know he’s interested in getting something resolved,” Bidwill said, according to Urban. “After the playoff game, he got away, left the country. He’s back now, it’s a busy week this week and we’ll start working on this next week. I think we’ll get this all worked out. He’s such a great person and a great player, he’s got many years left and I want to see him retire as an Arizona Cardinal. I want to see us move past getting this contract resolved and move forward.
  • Fitzgerald says he wants to retire a member of the Cardinals, but today he told Kim Covington of 12 News he could envision himself playing for another team next year. Fitzgerald told Kim he has met with Bidwell, but he understands football is a business and that may mean his time with the Cardinals may be over.
  • The Rams are having some trouble finding an offensive coordinator and Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests a familiar name: former head coach Mike Martz. Martz, of course, was one of the most creative, innovative, daring, forward-thinking offensive minds in the modern era. Since Martz left the building in 2005 with a serious health issue, the Rams have averaged 17.8 points per game, which ranks 30th among 32 teams.
  • Even if the Seahawks prevail Sunday in Super Bowl 49, there may be hope for their NFC West division rivals, Miklasz writes. Quarterback Russell Wilson is about to get paid, and Seattle will lose a major competitive advantage when they lose his dirt cheap contract. Wilson make just $817K in 2014, less than backup Tarvaris Jackson.
  • The Cardinals had interest in Mike Smith as a senior defensive assistant but things didn’t work out, sources tell Kent Somers of The Arizona Republic (on Twitter). The former Falcons head coach has been linked to other coaching opportunities around the NFL, including the Raiders’ defensive coordinator vacancy.
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