Opinion: No Reason For Mathieu Extension
- Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap doesn’t quite understand the Cardinals‘ motives in the extension given to Tyrann Mathieu, outside of a desire to avoid distractions on a contending team. The Cards are giving the safety a $15.5MM signing bonus, $20MM in first year new money, and a large 2018 offseason roster bonus. Meanwhile, tagging Mathieu (as a safety) next year only would have cost the team around $12MM. Even if he were classified as a corner, Mathieu would have only cost ~$14MM. Fitzgerald is also perplexed by the lack of injury language in the deal. While Mathieu did not receive the kind of injury guarantees that most players would get, Fitzgerald expected the team to tie more of his money to per-game bonuses than they actually did.
Cardinals Sign Alan Ball
The Cardinals have announced the signing of free agent cornerback Alan Ball and the release of safety Tyrequek Zimmerman. Ball auditioned for the Cardinals on Thursday and obviously showed the team enough to warrant a contract, though details of the pact aren’t yet available.
Ball, 31, spent last season in Chicago and figures to provide some veteran depth to an Arizona team that lost fellow corner Mike Jenkins to a broken hand prior to training camp. Aside from Patrick Peterson and Justin Bethel, the Cardinals are short on healthy corners with NFL experience. They did address the position through the draft, landing third-rounder Brandon Williams and sixth-rounder Harlan Miller, but the former is a converted running back who only took on a full-time corner role for the first time as a senior at Texas A&M last season.
Ball, who was teammates with Jenkins in Dallas from 2008-11, entered the league as a seventh-round pick in 2007. In addition to the Cowboys and Bears, he has seen action with the Texans and Jaguars. All told, Ball has accrued 108 appearances (47 starts) and six interceptions. He appeared in 15 games, made three starts and totaled 18 tackles last season.
Zimmerman went undrafted out of Oregon State last year and has since bounced around the league, including multiple stints with the Cardinals. His latest one began June 2 and lasted just over two months.
Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic first reported Ball’s signing.
Cardinals To Work Out Alan Ball
Alan Ball will work out for the Cardinals on Thursday, Aaron Wilson of National Football Post reports. Ball remains a free agent after playing on a one-year deal with the Bears last season, and the Cardinals may be in need of some veteran help now.
Arizona signed Mike Jenkins just before training camp but saw him break a bone in his hand, an injury which required surger
y, and he’ll be out for multiple weeks.
Beyond Patrick Peterson and Justin Bethel, the Cardinals are devoid of any healthy veteran corners. Roster Resource shows third- and sixth-round rookies Brandon Williams and Harlan Miller comprise the next two options for the defending NFC West champions. Williams is a converted running back who began playing corner full-time as a senior last season at Texas A&M.
Like Jenkins, Ball is a 31-year-old corner who began his career with the Cowboys. The two were teammates from 2008-11 in Dallas, although Jenkins joined the team as a first-round pick a year after Ball came to Texas as a seventh-rounder in 2007. Ball made 16 starts for the Cowboys in 2010 and then made 22 for the Jaguars in 2013-14.
The Bears used Ball as mostly an off-the-bench contributor last season, and the journeyman defender hasn’t been linked to any teams this offseason.
Ball has six career interceptions, two of which coming in 2013 for the Jags during a season in which he also deflected a career-high 14 passes. He made 18 tackles for the Bears last season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cardinals Sign Tyrann Mathieu To Extension
WEDNESDAY, 4:20pm: The Cardinals confirmed the extension, via the team’s Twitter account.
TUESDAY, 8:56pm: The Cardinals and Tyrann Mathieu have agreed to a five-year contract extension that makes him the highest-paid safety in the NFL and locks him up through the 2021 campaign. When all is said and done, the five-year deal will be worth $62.5MM and contain $21.25MM fully guaranteed. The guarantees are comprised of a $15,5MM signing bonus, a $1MM 2016 base salary, and a $4.75MM 2017 base salary.
This offseason, Arizona was gearing up to make Mathieu the highest-paid safety in the league and they did just that today. Previously, the Chiefs’ Eric Berry set the watermark in terms of AAV thanks to his franchise tender for 2016. Vikings safety Harrison Smith, who recently signed an extension that pays him $10.25MM per season, was briefly the runner-up for annual compensation at the position and No. 1 in terms of overall value. Now, Mathieu is your new leader in both AAV and overall compensation for safeties with a $12MM AAV and an overall deal which should come in at $60MM+. Mathieu also spends a great deal of time at cornerback and it should be noted that an $12MM/year average annual value would rank eighth among CBs.
“I just want to get paid as a top defender,” said Mathieu. “I don’t want to be slotted as a corner or a safety, because I’m not Patrick Peterson and I’m not Earl Thomas. I’m kind of different than both of those guys, but I still have the same type of impact on the game as those guys do. I just want to be paid as a top defender, and however that looks on paper, that’s what I want.” told Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com recently. “I don’t want to be slotted as a corner or a safety, because I’m not Patrick Peterson and I’m not Earl Thomas. I’m kind of different than both of those guys, but I still have the same type of impact on the game as those guys do. I just want to be paid as a top defender, and however that looks on paper, that’s what I want.”
In 2015, Mathieu earned a Pro Bowl selection and was named first-team All Pro. In his 14 games, Mathieu recorded five interceptions, 89 tackles, one sack, 17 passes defensed, and graded out as the No. 1 cornerback in the league, according to Pro Football Focus.
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter) and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter) first reported the agreement and its terms. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported the financial details and structure. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Reaction To Tyrann Mathieu’s Extension
After months of negotiation, the Cardinals and defensive back Tyrann Mathieu agreed today on the terms of a five-year, $62.5MM extension that contains $40MM guaranteed. Of course, that $40MM figure is unlikely to refer to full guarantees, as the current leader in that metric among safeties — the Patriots’ Devin McCourty — only secured $22MM fully guaranteed. Still, the average annual value of the deal indicates that it’s possibly market-shifting, and it engendered quite a bit of reaction. Let’s take a look at some of the responses to Mathieu’s brand new contract:
- The Cardinals have apparently worked injury protection into the deal, presumably adding language that would protect the club in the event that Mathieu suffers another major injury, according to Mike Jurecki of FOX Sports 910 (Twitter link). Mathieu, of course, has torn an ACL in two of his first three seasons in the league, so it’s understandable that Arizona wants to guard itself.
- Mathieu’s extension pays him $12.5MM annually, and that figure — which is between the top of the cornerback and safety markets — makes sense because Matheiu shifts between both positions, tweets Joel Corry of CBSSports.com. Mathieu’s versatility, to be sure, makes his deal a bit difficult to evaluate since he spends much of his time in the slot.
- Now that he’s earning that $12.5MM annual salary, Mathieu has surpassed the Vikings’ Harrison Smith to become the NFL’s highest-paid safety, and Mathieu’s average is also $1.7MM more than Eric Berry will make if he signs his franchise tag with the Chiefs, details Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (all Twitter links), who adds that the Cardinals are placing a lot of faith in Mathieu considering his aforementioned injury history.
- The Cardinals value Mathieu because he’s able to target specific offensive weapons, as Matt Bowen of ESPN Insider writes (subscription required). Mathieu can “dictate matchups,” according to Bowen, lining up against either a slot receiver or a tight end, or instead playing near the line to stop the run or blitz off the edge.
- Risk is built into Mathieu’s new deal because of his lengthy injury past, but Arizona isn’t afraid to take a gamble, as evidenced by the fact that it drafted Mathieu in the first place, opine Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com. Mathieu is perhaps the msot valuable piece on a Cardinals defense that includes All Pro Patrick Peterson, and the club suffered immensely after Mathieu went down late last season.
Cardinals Notes: Mathis, QBs
- If he’s able to win another Super Bowl with the Cardinals in 2016, Evan Mathis says he’ll retire immediately, according to Mike Jurecki of FOX Sports 910 (Twitter link). “Absolutely,” said Mathis, when asked if he’ll hang up his cleats. “Not even thinking twice.” Mathis, 34, won a title during his first (and only) season with the Broncos, and proceeded to join Arizona on a one-year, $4MM deal. The veteran guard can earn another $2MM via incentives.
- The Cardinals could conceivably keep a third quarterback on the active roster, but that No. 3 QB will have to compete with a fourth tight end, fourth running back, or sixth wide receiver, head coach Bruce Arians told reporters, including Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com. Arizona’s third signal-caller battle will come down to Matt Barkely and 2016 undrafted free agent Jake Coker, each of whom will compete to work behind Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton.
Mike Jenkins Breaks Bone In Hand, Out Indefinitely
- One of the Cardinals‘ newest acquisitions, cornerback Mike Jenkins, broke a bone in his hand on Friday and is out indefinitely, according to Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com.
Cardinals Sign Franky Okafor, Waive Rico Richardson
- The Cardinals swapped out wide receivers by signing Franky Okafor and waiving Rico Richardson, Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com tweets. Okafor is a rookie UDFA out of Division II Southwestern Oklahoma State. Richardson has played in six games since coming into the league in 2014, all with the Titans.
Cardinals Sign LB Donald Butler
SATURDAY, 8:25am: The deal also includes a $40K roster bonus, tweets ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss.
FRIDAY, 1:35pm: It’s a one-year, $800K deal for Butler, Adam Caplan of ESPN.com tweets.
WEDNESDAY, 2:08pm: The Cardinals announced that they have signed linebacker Donald Butler. To make room for Butler on the roster, the Cards released inside linebacker Quayshawn Nealy. 
Butler, who has seven career sacks and three interceptions to his credit, played well enough in both 2012 and 2013 to earn a lucrative extension after the 2013 season. However, he struggled in 2014 and 2015, leading to his release earlier this offseason. Brown, 29, was set to enter his contract year before the Bolts cut him, absolving themselves of a $500K roster bonus, plus a $3MM base salary in the fall. By dropping him, they wiped that entire $3.5MM from their cap.
If he makes the roster, Butler will bring experience to Arizona’s inside linebacker corps. Aside from their latest addition, the Cards have Deone Bucannon, Kevin Minter, Alani Fua, Gabe Martin, and rookie Lamar Louis at inside linebacker, as shown on Roster Resource.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Mathieu Upset With Contract Talks?
- Safety Tyrann Mathieu took to Twitter earlier this week and seemed to express frustration at the state of his contract talks with the Cardinals (sic). “Money mean nothing, I want my respect,” Mathieu tweeted. Recently, Cardinals GM Steve Keim expressed optimism about getting a deal done with the player formerly known as Honey Badger.