Is it time for Larry Fitzgerald to finally retire from the NFL?
After a standout career at the University of Pittsburgh, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals with the third overall selection in the 2004 NFL Draft. Since then he has become one of the faces of the National Football League.
When he became a free agent at the end of the 2020 season, it was assumed that Fitzgerald wasn't done playing just yet and wanted to give it another year. Now, just weeks before the start of the 2021 NFL season, Fitzgerald says that at the moment, he doesn't intend to play football in 2021. Has his storied career come to a close?
Has WR Larry Fitzgerald's career over?
When asked about his football future, Larry Fitzgerald said this week that "I just don't have the urge to play right now" on SiriusXM's Mad Dog Sports Radio. Fitzgerald then went on to say:
"I think I have to be respectful of that, Football is not one of those games you want to walk out there and play and not be fully engaged and ready to prepare and do the things necessary that you need to do."
Larry Fitzgerald is now 37 years old and many now retired NFL players have said that it is a grind to keep up with workouts and preparation for the upcoming season. Fitzgerald's comments seem to be as if he is currently in that state-of-mind. Preparing every season for the NFL is physically and mentally exhausting and when an NFL player has gotten to the point where it becomes that taxing, it usually means retirement is the best option.
If Larry Fitzgerald's career has come to an end, what a career it was. Fitzgerald not only played 17 seasons in the National Football League, but he also played for just one team, the Arizona Cardinals. That in itself is a rare accomplishment in modern day football.
Fitzgerald is a 11-time Pro Bowler and the 2016 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award winner. He was the NFL receiving touchdowns leader in 2008 and 2009 and the NFL receptions leader in 2005 and 2016.
Fitzgerald and the Arizona Cardinals clinched a Wild Card playoff spot in 2008 with a 9-7 record and won their way to a Super Bowl appearance in XLIII against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fitzgerald has 17,492 career receiving yards and 121 touchdowns.
Fitzgerald had one of his least productive seasons in 2020, with 54 receptions in 72 targets, 409 receiving yards and just one touchdown. With some of the lowest numbers of his career, Fitzgerald may realize that he is no longer the dyanmic wide receiver he once was and now is the time to call it a career.