NFL: Mathieu confirms: Cardinals demand salary cuts

The future of tyrant Mathieu is – apart from the widely discussed quarterback quest – the hottest topic of this off-season at the Arizona Cardinals. For the first time, Safety spoke in detail and confirmed that the team wanted to achieve a pay cut.

Mathieu told NFL. com that there was a meeting with the team on Thursday to ask about the pay cut. The 25-year-old would put a burden of $14.1 million on Arizona’s Cap Stand today, according to NFL network insider Ian Rapoport, a significant salary cut.

“There are different ways to restructure a contract without taking money out of my pocket. Getting money out of your pocket doesn’t feel good,”Mathieu explained. The Cardinals have until 14. March time to make a decision. Then the deadline for Mathieus’ contract option, which would guarantee him over the next two seasons 19 million dollars.

However, there are serious doubts as to how much Mathieu’s role in the new Cardinals defense under the new head coach Steve Wilks will be. He doesn’t use safeties as dynamically as former defensive coordinator James Bettcher, but at the same time Wilks announced on the fringes of the Combine:”He can do so much. He can cover, he can flash – he suits us perfectly. I like his abilities and see how he matches the 2018 Arizona Cardinals.”

Mathieu added on Thursday:”I love Arizona. I feel like I’ve really grown up here. The fans, the city – everyone welcomed me with open arms. But when players get into these situations, certain things are out of our hands. The team has to make a decision, and I have limited influence on it.”

Due to the rapid rise of Budda Baker – a similar type of player as Mathieu – the starting position for the experienced player becomes rather more difficult. However, his statements on Thursday were ambivalent. In addition to his declaration of love for Arizona, Mathieu beamed upon the question of how the meeting with the team went:”I’m sitting here smiling, if that says anything.”

At the same time, he explained that he could get more money on the free market than with a reduced Cardinals contract, also with a grin:”My advisor sees it that way.”