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Arizona Cardinals Players Cutting Salaries...Why Not?

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It was reported on Saturday by Adam Caplan that Arizona Cardinals tight end Todd Heap had his 2012 salary reduced by $1 million.

Heap is the third player since the end of last season to take a cut in pay. The others? Linebacker Stewart Bradley and safety Adrian Wilson.

Bradley in a way had to. He was due to make $5 million and had played less than 20 percent of the defense's snaps.

Wilson gets more money in his contract extension, but he does take a cut in pay in 2012. Heap? He was a salary cap casualty a year ago when the Baltimore Ravens dumped him. Being one of three very talented tight ends, his motivation was probably to avoid getting cut in similar fashion this year.

The moves all help the team. The team is hoping to get Daryl Washington and LaRod Stephens-Howling signed to contract extensions. More cap space will make that easier.

Of course, this does not help the image of being cheap as an organization. They approached players and asked them to take a paycut. Now if they turn around and either bring guys in that could impact the team or get those contracts extended, then the team is just being judicious.

If the team just sits on the money, then the cheap level comes back.