ducks
05-03-2008, 02:28 PM
Boldin says he wants to stay with Cardinals
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP)—Anquan Boldin says it’s news to him that he’s unhappy and wants out of Arizona.
To the contrary, the two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver says he wants to remain with the Cardinals and is not upset that he has yet to get a new contract on par with teammate Larry Fitzgerald.
“I’ve always wanted to be in Arizona,” Boldin said Friday, the first day of the Cardinals’ mini-camp. “This is the only place I’ve known professionally. I don’t want to uproot my family and leave. I’m happy here. I have great rapport with everybody around here, coaches included.”
Boldin did sit out Friday’s workouts because of a sore hamstring, but said it had nothing to do with any dissatisfaction over his contract.
“I let my agent handle that,” he said. “For me, I don’t like to get in the media with business discussions because we all see what can happen.”
Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt repeated the team’s intention to sign Boldin to a new contract.
“We’ve said to Anquan as well as publicly that we fully intend to redo his contract the first window that we have,” Whisenhunt said. “We’ve made efforts to do that and it just hasn’t worked out.”
Boldin and Fitzgerald form perhaps the best pair of wide receivers in the NFL.
In March, Fitzgerald signed a four-year, $40 million contract with $30 million guaranteed.
The team wanted to restructure Fitzerald’s incentive-laden rookie contract because he had reached many of the benchmarks and was to receive $14.6 million in 2008 and just under $17.4 million in 2009.
Those figures left the Cardinals with hardly any room under the salary cap to sign free agents. In addition, the contract locks up Fitzgerald through 2011, when he still will be only 28 years old.
Boldin’s deal, which runs through 2010, averages $4 million a year. He is to receive about $2.5 million this season.
Boldin said he will let his contract situation will have no effect on his performance.
“I mean, I do what I do, that’s play football,” he said. “For me, it’s not a distraction at all.”
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP)—Anquan Boldin says it’s news to him that he’s unhappy and wants out of Arizona.
To the contrary, the two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver says he wants to remain with the Cardinals and is not upset that he has yet to get a new contract on par with teammate Larry Fitzgerald.
“I’ve always wanted to be in Arizona,” Boldin said Friday, the first day of the Cardinals’ mini-camp. “This is the only place I’ve known professionally. I don’t want to uproot my family and leave. I’m happy here. I have great rapport with everybody around here, coaches included.”
Boldin did sit out Friday’s workouts because of a sore hamstring, but said it had nothing to do with any dissatisfaction over his contract.
“I let my agent handle that,” he said. “For me, I don’t like to get in the media with business discussions because we all see what can happen.”
Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt repeated the team’s intention to sign Boldin to a new contract.
“We’ve said to Anquan as well as publicly that we fully intend to redo his contract the first window that we have,” Whisenhunt said. “We’ve made efforts to do that and it just hasn’t worked out.”
Boldin and Fitzgerald form perhaps the best pair of wide receivers in the NFL.
In March, Fitzgerald signed a four-year, $40 million contract with $30 million guaranteed.
The team wanted to restructure Fitzerald’s incentive-laden rookie contract because he had reached many of the benchmarks and was to receive $14.6 million in 2008 and just under $17.4 million in 2009.
Those figures left the Cardinals with hardly any room under the salary cap to sign free agents. In addition, the contract locks up Fitzgerald through 2011, when he still will be only 28 years old.
Boldin’s deal, which runs through 2010, averages $4 million a year. He is to receive about $2.5 million this season.
Boldin said he will let his contract situation will have no effect on his performance.
“I mean, I do what I do, that’s play football,” he said. “For me, it’s not a distraction at all.”