Tom Pelissero

USA TODAY Sports

Cardinals Pro Bowl receiver restructured his contract to free up %249.4 million in cap space for 2014

Fitzgerald will be on the books for a whopping %2423.6 million in 2015

The restructured contract star receiver Larry Fitzgerald signed with the Arizona Cardinals this week freed up $9.4 million in salary cap space for the team in 2014 and increased Fitzgerald's already-massive cap number in 2015 to a whopping $23.6 million.

According to contract details obtained by USA TODAY Sports, the Cardinals converted $11.75 million of Fitzgerald's base salary into a guaranteed roster bonus that's treated as a signing bonus for cap purposes, prorating the hit over the five remaining years of the deal.

Fitzgerald, whose base salary for 2014 is now $1 million, will now count just $8.6 million against the cap this coming season.

The Cardinals still have a decision to make on Fitzgerald by the fifth day of the 2015 league year, when he has an $8 million roster bonus due. Cut or trade him before that, and they'd now be left with $14.4 million in unamortized bonus proration (aka dead money) on their cap.

In 2016, Fitzgerald's cap number is scheduled to be $17.6 million. The two remaining years in 2017 and '18 are option years with cap numbers of $17.35 million.

Fitzgerald, 30, had a bounce-back 10th season with the Cardinals in 2013, recording 82 catches for 954 yards and 10 touchdowns, his most since 2009.