Cardinals, Shelton finally part ways
Cardinals, Shelton finally part ways
By Darren Urban, Tribune
L.J. Shelton was never going to be an Arizona Cardinal for the 2005 season.
The veteran offensive tackle said the right things, implying he would stick it out.
The Cardinals made the same kind of comments, whether it was coach Dennis Green or vice president of football operations Rod Graves.
But the inevitable was coming, with Shelton in Green’s version of a doghouse for more than a year. Reality finally arrived Wednesday, when the Cardinals released Shelton.
"I really believe everything happens for a reason," Shelton said, when
reached by phone Wednesday afternoon. "I have learned from this and I am a better player because of it."
The Cardinals also cut tight end Lorenzo Diamond, who disappointed Green so much last season he fell from second-string to the practice squad by the end of the season.
The team had tried to trade Shelton throughout the offseason, including the much-publicized swap for Buffalo running back Travis Henry. Graves said that after the prime trading time of the draft passed, the Cardinals decided to wait until after teams had minicamps to see if Shelton looked any more attractive to the rest of the league.
When no teams expressed interest, "there was really no reason for us to keep him any longer," Graves said.
"We are disappointed things didn’t work out for us long term," Graves said. "We recognized that, made a decision and we move on."
By dumping Shelton before June 1, the Cards absorb all of the pro-rated portion of his signing bonus from his 2003 contract extension, about $3.3 million. If the team had waited until June, they could have pushed about $2.5 million of that onto the 2006 salary cap.
The Cardinals now have around $6.5 million in cap space remaining. The team must put $4.3 million of that toward its seven drafted rookies.
"Cap considerations have never been an issue for us," Graves said. "We would take a cap hit either way and neither one of those would drive a decision."
Shelton said the "phone has been ringing off the hook" since he was cut, although he declined to name which teams were interested.
Whatever happens, Shelton believes he is "definitely" still worthy of starting.
"A lot of teams have their lineups set or at least think they have their lineups set," Shelton said. "I know I am going to have to work at it."
Green had considered cutting Shelton last season before money considerations put a stop to that. Admittedly out of shape before offseason workouts last year, Shelton was also coming off ankle and elbow surgeries.
Still, Green was not happy. Green also wanted to move Leonard Davis from guard to left tackle, sending an upset Shelton to the bench.
The relationship never got much better, even after Shelton finally cracked the starting lineup as a guard five games into the 2004 season. His season ended in December when he suffered a knee sprain.
The 1999 first-round draft pick had received a contract extension in 2003 that paid him more than $10 million since the beginning of that season.
The Cardinals now have cut both their veteran backup tackles, after getting rid of Anthony Clement April 25.
Shelton declined to give his opinion of whether he should have been considered one of the Cardinals’ top five offensive linemen. He insisted he was only taking positives from his time in Arizona.
"I am more than financially stable, my son has college paid for," Shelton said."The Arizona Cardinals are responsible for that."
Contact Darren Urban by email, or phone (480) 898-6525
. Those are always my first guess whenever we cut someone.
