NFL: Cardinals sign safety Wilson to 5-year contract
By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer
PHOENIX — The Arizona Cardinals have signed two-time Pro Bowl safety Adrian Wilson to a new five-year contract that runs through the 2013 season.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The team scheduled a news conference for later today to discuss the new deal.
Wilson is the hard-hitting leader of the Cardinals’ defense and was a Pro Bowl selection in the 2006 and 2008 seasons. His old contract was due to expire after the coming season, and re-signing him was the Cardinals’ top offseason priority.
The 29-year-old, entering his ninth NFL season, has 18 career interceptions and 18› sacks. Only eight players in NFL history have at least 20 interceptions and 20 sacks.
Next on Arizona’s list is a long-term deal for linebacker Karlos Dansby, who has been designated the team’s franchise player for the second year in a row.
Once that happens, Cardinals general manager Rod Graves has said he will turn his attention to trying to work out a new deal with disgruntled Pro Bowl wide receiver Anquan Boldin.
Boldin, who has asked to be traded, recently fired agent Drew Rosenhaus. While the NFL Players Association said Thursday that Boldin had not officially hired a replacement, Graves said he already has talked with agent Tom Condon about Boldin, indicating Condon would be the receiver’s new agent.
In 2006, Wilson became the first defensive player in NFL history with two touchdown plays of at least 99 yards in the same season, one on an interception and another on a fumble return.
Wilson has been with the Cardinals longer than any other player on their roster, experiencing some rough years of losing before the team’s unexpected run to the Super Bowl last season. Arizona drafted him out of North Carolina State in the third round in 2001. He signed a five-year deal with the team in 2005.
Along with his interceptions and sacks, Wilson has 651 career tackles, 481 of them solos, along with 63 pass deflections, 10 forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries.
A fierce pass rusher, he knocked Buffalo quarterback Trent Edwards out of the game with a concussion on the third play of Arizona’s 41-17 victory over the Bills last Oct. 5.
He has played in 118 games, starting 110.
Last season, Wilson had 85 tackles, 2› sacks and two interceptions.
In the team’s four playoff games last season, the had 20 tackles and two forced fumbles.