TEMPE, Ariz. New Arizona Cardinals wide receiver AJ Green says he still has “a lot in the tank” and doesn’t think he has anything to prove by signing with another team for the first time in his career.
“I still feel young,” said the 32-year-old Green at his introductory Zoom press conference on Thursday. “Legs feel young. … I think I will play at a high level for many years to come.”
Green signed a one-year contract with the Cardinals in the hopes that those legs can help Arizona reach at least its first playoff berth since 2015. Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that the deal is worth up to $ 8.5 million and includes a guaranteed $ 6 million.
“I think that’s the main goal of winning a championship,” said Green. “For me, I have been in Cincinnati for 10 years. So for me it is incredible to go somewhere where the organization is now ready to win.”
He said that Arizona was one of the few teams who were “very” interested in him, but that Green’s appeal to the Cardinals lay in the way he saw that he was fit in their attack plan.
“I was looking for a foul that really matched my skills and I felt – with Kyler [Murray] and Hop [DeAndre Hopkins] and [Christian] Kirk, and the guys they have around this offense – I felt like this would suit me best, ‘Green said.
Their stability with the quarterback also helped the cardinals’ cause.
Green said last season was “ tough ” because of the Bengals’ three-man quarterback carousel, especially as he came off an ankle injury that caused him to miss all of 2019. But he said he also feels that last season has helped him become mentally stronger.
“I’ve been in Cincinnati for 10 years, so that’s all I know,” Green said. So coming to Arizona is refreshing. I think you’re looking around the league with Tom Brady, all those other guys [that] been in the same places for years and you saw what Tom Brady did last year. I think it is good. “