When free agent kicker Jay Feely agreed to a deal with the Cardinals today, it marked the end of the Neil Rackers era in Arizona. But there are differing accounts of why Rackers is on the way out.
The Arizona Republic reported that the Cardinals made re-signing Rackers a priority, offering him a contract on the first day of free agency that averaged close to $2 million a year, but that Rackers’ agent, Robert Roche, didn’t respond for two weeks.
Roche, however, told ESPN.com that it was Cardinals General Manager Rod Graves who dragged his feet on the deal, saying that he sent Graves a counter-offer after the Cardinals’ initial offer, and that Graves never got back to him other than to say he was doing a budget analysis.
Roche also says he never rejected the Cardinals’ offer and he was waiting to hear back from the Cardinals when the Cardinals decided to sign Feely.
Said Roche of the team’s decision to sign Feely this week, “I was never given an opportunity to accept or reject the offer from the Cardinals.”
