Before Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald restructured his contact to enable the team to become financially flexible earlier this month, there were rumors that the New England Patriots had interest in landing the wideout via a trade. Cardinals general manager Steve Keim said that the trade speculation was minimal and mostly rumors.
According to NFL.com, Keim said at the NFL Combine that the Patriots interest in the receiver "never went past the speculation stage" and was mostly just rumors. Keim said on Thursday that the Cardinals never received a phone call from the Patriots about the wide receiver and that their interest wasn't anything too serious.
It's uncertain if anything will change next season when Fitzgerald carries a salary cap charge of $23.6 million.
Fitzgerald, 30, was drafted by the Cardinals third overall in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft and has played his entire 10-year career in Arizona, but speculation arose last month that he may be dealt to the Patriots if the Cardinals couldn't restructure his deal. According to Keim, there was never really a question that the team would hang onto him since New England's interest didn't go that far.
Fitzgerald played in all 16 games last season for the sixth consecutive season, and hauled in 82 passes for 954 yards while reaching the end zone 10 times. The Cardinals finished at 10-6 last season and third in the NFC West while missing the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.
In his career, Fitzgerald has played in 156 games for the Cardinals while making 846 receptions for 11,367 yards with 87 career touchdowns.
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