Legendary wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald has not announced he is retiring from the NFL but he is not playing right now and recently said he just doesn’t feel “the urge to play right now.”
In that same interview with Jim Gray on Sirius XM NFL Radio’s “Let’s Go,” Fitzgerald elaborated on that feeling.
While there have been retirement questions for year, this experience is something he has never had.
“It’s a completely new thing,” he said. “I’ve never felt it before. That’s why I just needed to take the time to make sure I was making a good clear, conscious decision and that’s what was in my best interest.”
Gray asked if he was just avoiding training camp.
He didn’t say he wasn’t, but made it clear that any NFL player who says he likes camp is “telling you a bold-faced lie.”
“Nobody likes it,” he said. “It’s the toughest part of the year, but we all know and understand it’s building blocks and the foundation to a great season.”
Would Fitzgerald come back to play just to win a title? After all, it is the one achievement he has not had in his career.
Fitzgerald explained it is more than just winning a championship at the end. The possibility of winning would not be the sole reason he comes back.
“(The) desire to compete and to be part of something that is much bigger than you, it is the main reason, and obviously the pursuit of the Lombardi Trophy,” he said. “You have to be in love with the process of pursuing the Lombardi Trophy, and that’s the part that’s most important.”
Many people think that the actual winning at the end is what matters to athletes.
It matters, but in the context of having had to work extremely hard, compete and succeed at a high level to get there.
Essentially, if he doesn’t feel the urge to put in the necessary work to play and win, the struggle isn’t worth it. He has to want to put in the work and, after 17 years in the NFL, that’s okay.
Perhaps the desire will come back and he will want to rejoin the Cardinals for a playoff run. It would be amazing. But if it doesn’t, there should be no regrets. He has had a legendary career.
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