When the Cardinals signed A.J. Green last month, all eyes turned to Larry Fitzgerald and his place on the team. Although the legendary receiver hasn’t made his intentions known just yet, it appears he’s headed in the direction of hanging up his cleats. “Execs anticipate” that Fitzgerald, who is unsigned for 2021, is going to retire, Mike Sando of The Athletic writes. This stops short of being a full-on report, but it certainly sounds like that’s the way things are trending.
With Green now in the fold alongside the returning DeAndre Hopkins and Christian Kirk, the Cardinals’ receiving room would be pretty crowded if Fitz wanted to give it one last go. The surefire future Hall of Famer played in 13 games for Arizona last year, racking up 54 catches for 409 yards and a touchdown. It was easily the lowest output of his decorated 17-year career. We should know more soon, but unfortunately it seems likely we’ve seen the Pittsburgh product play his final down.
Here’s more from around the NFC West on a quiet Sunday afternoon:
- Matthew Stafford was banged up a lot during his last season with the Lions, and he just had a procedure to address one of those lingering injuries. The new Rams quarterback had surgery on the thumb of his throwing hand last month, a source told Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic. Fortunately, Rodrigue reports it was just a simple cleanup and Stafford isn’t expected to miss any real practice time. Stafford said back in February that he had partially torn the UCL in his right thumb. Despite dealing with a slew of significant health issues, he didn’t miss a start last season.
- The Seahawks signed away tight end Gerald Everett from the Rams in free agency, and it turns out a prior poaching played a large role in that. Seattle hired former Rams passing game coordinator Shane Waldron to be their new OC after firing Brian Schottenheimer, and Waldron played a role in delivering Everett. “Shane is a mastermind,” Everett said, via John Boyle of the team’s official site. “He’s very creative, and I can’t wait to see what he’s going to do in Seattle… When Shane went to Seattle, obviously the idea was there, it lingered in my head.” Everett was a second-round pick of Los Angeles in 2017, and although he never put up huge numbers in Rams offenses that had a lot of mouths to feed, he flashed a lot of potential. “Yes, he was a factor in my decision to come to Seattle,” Everett said of Waldron. The Seahawks gave him a one-year, $7MM deal in March.
- In case you missed it, the 49ers are asking for a first-round pick in exchange for Jimmy Garoppolo.
Fitz should come play slot for the Bucs and GIVE it one last go for a title. I’d much rather him than AB.
I hate to say it, but he’d be a great fit there.
ruckus727 Fitz doesn’t seem like a ring chaser, if he was he probably would’ve left the Cardinals by now. There’s something to be said for ending your career with 1 team these days with guys acting like divas demanding trades more then ever. Good for him having his legacy be as a Cardinal.
Well what you don’t want is him getting a ring like Shady McCoy… just technically being on the team. If he jumped ship, being an actual contributor to a championship team would matter. If he just along for the ride I think he should just retire a Card.
Come to the Bucs! Replace AB. Your buddies Jason Litch and Bruce Arians are here.
If Fitz retires, that going to be one heck of a HoF ballot in 5 years. Brees, Rivers & Fitz will headline.
I don’t understand the idea behind the 5 year wait. It’s not like these guys will need that time to gain voter support. They’d be a slam dunk at any time.
I think it has more to do with making sure guys are actually retired.
Has there been a better draft than 2004?
Is there anyone besides Ben left from it?
1983, but yeah, 2004 was one truly great draft class. Ben is the last one kicking currently, but the number of starts between him, Manning, Rivers, and Fitzgerald alone is staggering.
I mean, even without them, Robert Gallery went second overall. He started for years. So, you had Manning, Gallery, Fitzgerald, Rivers, and then Sean Taylor going in that order in the top five. Big Ben didn’t go until 11, after a few other longtime starters like Dunta Robinson (10) and DeAngelo Hall (8). Johnathon Vilma and Tommie Harris went right after Ben too, a couple of longtime starters. Great 1st round.