Cardinals S Tony Jefferson feeling anxious as free agency approaches
Mar 3, 2017, 6:30 AM | Updated: 11:34 am
Tony Jefferson at Patrick Peterson's charity event. (Photo by Adam Green/Arizona Sports)
(Photo by Adam Green/Arizona Sports)
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Tony Jefferson said he got on a flight from San Diego to Arizona just so he could make it to Patrick Peterson’s charity golf tournament, which had a reception Thursday night before the event Friday morning.
In the coming weeks, he may soon get on a plane that leads him away from the Arizona Cardinals.
Jefferson is one of the Cardinals’ many impending free agents, and he figures to also be one of their most sought-after.
The Cardinals have said they would like to bring him back, and Jefferson would prefer not to go anywhere, but there is a scenario here where two plus two does not equal four.
It’s possible Jefferson has played his final down for the Cardinals.
“Just anxious,” Jefferson said Thursday of how he’s feeling heading into free agency. “February’s supposed to be the shortest month of the year, well, that was the longest month I think I’ve ever experienced.
“It’s March now, it will start to get rolling.”
What makes Jefferson anxious is the uncertainty surrounding his situation, though he admitted there is also some excitement given that no matter where he lands, a healthy contract is likely to come with him.
“My mom and my dad text me every day like I have something new for them,” he said with a laugh. “I keep telling them we’ve got to wait, we’ve got to wait.”
Jefferson will not have to wait much longer.
Teams can begin contacting free agents on March 7, and on March 9 they can start signing them. Just 25 years old and coming off a career season in which he notched 92 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, two sacks, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and five passes defensed, Jefferson will have no shortage of suitors.
While great, that is part of what makes this next step in his career a precarious one.
Since signing with the Cardinals as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2013, he has risen from a special teams contributor to a key member of one of the NFL’s best defenses.
The bond he has created with Peterson and the other members of the secondary would understandably make it difficult to leave.
Jefferson said the friendships he has made will “last forever,” but it would still be tough since Arizona has become his second home while his real home in San Diego is five hours away.
The safety leaving would not just be tough on Jefferson.
The tight-knit group that is the Cardinals’ secondary was pretty well documented in the Amazon series “All or Nothing,” and it was tough on them last offseason when safety Rashad Johnson and cornerback Jerraud Powers were not brought back. Now, Jefferson, safety D.J. Swearinger and cornerback Marcus Cooper are reaching free agency.
Peterson said he is hopeful the Cardinals will find a way to keep their defense together, and answered a question about balancing that desire with the fact that he wants to see his teammates like Jefferson be rewarded financially.
“Why can’t we be a team that pays him?” he asked with a laugh. “Tony’s done everything in his power to showcase his talents, and this year he showcased like no other. He played very well, played very big in situations, and obviously if we don’t give him the money that he feels he deserves, I’m quite sure that he won’t have a problem finding it anywhere else.”
Sometimes that is just how it works out.
Powers, who was with the Cardinals from 2013 to 2015, was also in town for Peterson’s event — he arrived in the same SUV as Jefferson — which on its own helped to illustrate the bond they all share. The veteran cornerback spent last season with the Baltimore Ravens, and said Jefferson is in a situation where he should get as high an offer he can on the free agent market because this opportunity may not come again.
“But on the flip side, he’s got to do what’s best for him, whatever’s in his heart,” Powers said. “AZ has been great to him. He’s established a name for himself and done a lot of great things here in AZ, and it would be great, it would be ideal for him to be able to do something that he could stay here and be a part of the things they’ve got going on in AZ.”
Powers, who has been through a version of this before, illustrated the dilemma his younger former teammate is facing.
On one hand, he should seek out the best financial situation. But at the same time, it would be tough to leave the only team he has ever known and teammates he has grown close to.
“When you go to a new city, new team, new players, you don’t know if you’re going to develop those same type of relationships, you don’t know if you’re going to be welcomed by the other guys, you don’t know if the city’s going to embrace you,” he said. “But you know you have that in the city you’re in now.”
Just because Jefferson would earn a big contract from another team does not necessarily make the idea of signing it any easier.
Whatever the end result is, Jefferson’s free agency situation figures to be resolved in the next couple of weeks. He said he’s not entirely sure he will reach free agency, though it seems unlikely he will ink a long-term contract with the Cardinals before then.
As for whether or not he’s had any conversations with the Cardinals? Well, sort of.
“I talk to Patrick, he’s with the Cardinals,” Jefferson joked.
Informed that Peterson said he wants him back, Jefferson said that he knew that to be true.
“We’re doing what’s necessary,” he added of the free agency process, “but at the same time, just going through the days.”
