The Arizona Cardinals and wide receiver Michael Wilson appear closer than they have been all offseason to a contract extension.
ESPN reporter Josh Weinfuss said Wednesday that negotiations have seen movement and that an agreement could arrive within a day or two.
After months of public comments that the two sides remained far apart, the timing suggests the approaching regular season may have concentrated both parties.
Wilson, a 26-year-old third-round pick in 2023, just completed the kind of season that typically forces a team’s hand. In 17 games he caught 78 passes for 1,006 yards and seven touchdowns.
The production was not evenly distributed. He topped 50 receiving yards only once in his first nine games, then did so in seven of the final eight. That late surge turned a promising complementary piece into a 1,000-yard receiver and an obvious priority for general manager Monti Ossenfort.
Wilson is in the last year of a four-year, $5.3 million rookie contract and became eligible this offseason to renegotiate. Ossenfort had repeatedly said he wanted to get a deal done, language that sounded familiar to observers who remembered similar remarks during Jacoby Brissett’s earlier holdout.
Those talks eventually produced a workable agreement. A report earlier this summer from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler had floated the possibility that Wilson would play out the year and test free agency in 2027. That outcome now looks less likely.
The coaching change in Arizona adds another layer. New head coach Mike LaFleur, previously a receivers coach and offensive coordinator, has already earned praise from the position group. Wilson noted that LaFleur notices details other head coaches often leave to position coaches.
Marvin Harrison Jr. went further, calling LaFleur a wide receiver’s dream. LaFleur has indicated Wilson will be used in a role similar to Puka Nacua’s in Los Angeles, featuring pre-snap motion and work over the middle.
Wilson’s only appearance so far this preseason came on the opening drive against the Las Vegas Raiders. He caught two passes, including an 18-yard conversion on third-and-11, before the series ended with a Brissett touchdown throw to Harrison.
If an extension is completed in the next 24 to 48 hours, the Cardinals will have locked in one of the few remaining pieces of their young receiving corps before the games that count begin.
Terms have not been disclosed and will not be until both sides sign. For now the only confirmed development is that the long-stalled conversation has finally started to move.
