Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald is a legend and one of the greatest receivers of all time. He has also transformed himself. While he can still play outside and win, he isn’t as dominant on the boundary as he was 10 years ago.
But thanks to former Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians insisting he move to the slot more, his career has continued to be a legend.
In fact, entering his 17th NFL season, he is still one of the league’s very best in the slot. Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar ranked the top 11 slot receivers in the NFL and he still comes in fifth overall despite turning 37 this year.
In 2019, Fitzgerald worked in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense, where there were four receivers on the field on 227 of the Cardinals’ passing snaps. To put that into perspective, the Jaguars finished second in that category with 82 four-wide passing snaps. So, the slot position was kind of important, and Fitzgerald helped rookie quarterback Kyler Murray in all kinds of ways — especially on broken plays where the receiver’s acumen and persistence is the only difference between success and disaster.
Fitzgerald caught 60 slot passes on 86 targets for 668 yards, three touchdowns last season. As long as he wants to do it, you can expect more from the future first-ballot Hall of Famer.
He caught more than 100 passes three straight seasons from 2015-2017. With the addition of DeAndre Hopkins to the team this season, Fitzgerald might not have another 1,000-yard or 100-catch season, but he can still take over a game and come up big when the Cardinals need it.
It presents defenses with a dilemma. With Hopkins and Fitzgerald on the same side of the field, what should they do? One is bound to be open.
Fitzgerald keeps playing at a high level. We don’t know how much longer he will play, so let’s just enjoy it while it lasts.
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