PHOENIX — ant for a while. Larry Fitzgerald isn’t ready to hang up the cleats just yet.The receiver Budda Baker Jersey 2019 , whose career statistics rank among the best ever to play the game, has signed a one-year contract to return for a 16th season with the Arizona Cardinals.“No player has meant more to this franchise or this community than Larry Fitzgerald,” team President Michael Bidwill said Wednesday in the news release announcing the signing.Fitzgerald explained his decision in an Instagram post.“A fire burned inside of me my rookie year,” he wrote, “a desire, over all else, to be great. To excel on the field. To impact the lives of others off of it. I’m grateful that the fire still burns just as bright today, and that this organization has let me chase that fire for well over a decade.”Fitzgerald continued: “Nothing excites me more than continuing to chase greatness with everyone here on and off the field.”Fitzgerald, who will be 36 before the next season begins, may have been enticed by the hiring of Kliff Kingsbury to replace the fired Steve Wilks. Kingsbury will bring his “air raid” offense from Texas Tech, where he coached for six seasons, and brought in veteran assistant coach Tom Clements to work with quarterback Josh Rosen, who had a rocky rookie season.In recent years, State Farm Stadium rocked with chants of “Lar-ry! Lar-ry!” after one of his inevitable big plays. Probably no sports figure in Arizona has been as well-loved as No. 11.Bidwill said in an interview with the team’s flagship radio station, 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station, that he believes Kingsbury’s hiring helped lure Fitzgerald back.“I think they had a great conversation and he’s excited about focusing on the offense,” Bidwill said. “Obviously, he was very disappointed as all of us were in 2018. He bleeds Cardinal red. He wants to be part of getting this turned around. It’s exciting he was able to make a quick decision and get right to it.”Arizona went 3-13 last season Black Robert Nkemdiche Jersey , the worst record in the NFL and matching the worst for the Cardinals since the franchise moved to the desert from St. Louis 30 years ago. The Cardinals finished last in the league in total offense, passing and rushing.Consequently, it was a down year for Fitzgerald statistically, too. After three straight 100-catch seasons, Fitzgerald had 69 receptions for 734 yards and six touchdowns. He did, however, throw his first career TD pass, against the Rams in the next-to-last game of the season.Fitzgerald has been remarkably durable in his career. He’s caught a pass in 227 consecutive games, the second-longest such streak in NFL history.He passed more milestones last season.With 16,279 yards receiving, Fitzgerald passed Hall of Famer Terrell Owens for second (behind Jerry Rice) on the NFL career list. With 1,303 career catches, he passed Rice for most receptions for one team in his career. By playing in the season finale at Seattle, Fitzgerald tied kicker Jim Bakken for most games by a Cardinal at 234.Fitzgerald needs 23 catches to pass Antonio Gates into second (again behind Rice) in career receptions.Drafted No. 3 overall by the Cardinals out of Pittsburgh in 2004, Fitzgerald has never indicated a desire to play anywhere else, despite the intermittent struggles of the team.He’s caught passes from 19 quarterbacks during his time in Arizona, with the most memorable years coming when he was paired with Kurt Warner and Carson Palmer.He’s been at his best in the postseason.No one has matched his record of 942 yards receiving in his first nine playoff games. He has five 100-yard receiving games in the postseason, an NFL-best three of at least 150 yards.At the news conference announcing his hiring Robert Nkemdiche Jersey 2019 , the 49-year-old Kingsbury was asked about trying to woo Fitzgerald back for another season.“What a great role model, what a great leader to have on your team,” Kingsbury said at the time, “and I would be honored to work with him. He’s a guy I’ve admired from afar for a long time.”Fitzgerald earned $11 million each of the past two years and this deal probably is about the same.“I don’t want to push Larry, I want him to come to his own decision,” Bidwill said. “When he was ready . we did the deal. Was over at his house signing it on his kitchen table yesterday morning before he left town.”It’s been a good month for Fitzgerald. Last week, while playing golf with former President Barack Obama, he hit a hole in one.Now Fitzgerald, who shared the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year award with Eli Manning in 2016, will probably be off soon on one of his trademark trips to some faraway part of the world.Most importantly for the Cardinals and their fans, he’ll be back when summer workouts begin. With the Arizona Cardinals traveling to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs we talked with PeteSweeney of Arrowhead Pride to discuss the Chiefs, their ascension to historical offense and more.Enjoy.1. With the Chiefs offense taking off to new heights, Patrick Mahomes being the MVP favorite and Andy Reid getting CotY consideration, how would you divvy up the pie of success for the first half of the season?That is a great question. I think a lot of people, especially those who don’t follow them day to day, look at the Kansas City Chiefs and their eyes instantly pan to Patrick Mahomes as the sole reason for their success. And he’s a huge reason, no doubt, but know this: Mahomes wouldn’t be doing this well without the guidance and play-calling of Andy Reid.Of course https://www.thecardinalslockerroom.com/authentic-andy-isabella-jersey , there are many aspects of Reid’s game-planning that Mahomes affords him the ability to do, so we definitely have ourselves a chicken-egg situation in Kansas City.If I had to split it up, I’d say the pie goes as follows: Patrick Mahomes 35 percent, Andy Reid 25 percent, John Dorsey/Brett Veach (GMs) 20 percent, Skill-position players 15 percent, Defense (doing just enough) 5 percent2. While the offense is on a historical pace, the defense has had struggles, how much has injury had to do with it?The Chiefs will tell you quite a bit, and I’d agree. Most people around the league know that Kansas City has been without Eric Berry for 24 games and counting, but not many realize that inside linebackers Anthony Hitchens and Reggie Ragland had injuries all training camp and their first real action came Week 1 of the season. Justin Houston has been out for four games with a hamstring injury. Daniel Sorensen, the safety in line to play next to Berry ahead of training camp, had preseason surgery and has been out all year. The Chiefs have also lost role players in LB Terrance Smith and rookie S Armani Watts for the season. What’s amazing is they have managed an 8-1 record despite all the defensive injuries.The Cardinals game at Arrowhead should mark the returns of both Houston and Sorensen, so the reinforcements are coming. 3. Mahomes, Kareem Hunt, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Sammy Watkins are known commodities, who is an under the radar type for the offense?Sammy Watkins injured his foot last game Black Markus Golden Jersey , so you may get to know one this weekend in Chris Conley. Conley would be the next man up at receiver—he has 14 catches for 127 yards and two touchdowns on the season. He also is party responsible for Mahomes’ prettiest play of the season, in my eyes, against the San Francisco 49ers. Conley fittingly makes a nice catch against the 49ers directly in the Dwight Clark memorial portion of the end zone.Another under-the-radar player to watch is running back Spencer Ware, who was the Chiefs’ leading rusher in 2016 before missing 2017 and the emergence of then-rookie Kareem Hunt. Ware is back to old form.4.Does the regular season change the narrative on Andy Reid or is Reid at the point where only postseason success will matter?Andy Reid is a Hall of Famer if the playoffs did not exist. I would argue that based upon how many times he has made the postseason and played in the conference championship game, he should be in regardless. I don’t think everybody necessarily sees it that way. I think the Hall of Fame matters a lot to Reid because when he talks about former players and mentors that he really likes, he will always mention that they should be in the Hall of Fame. Reid has broken into the top 10 in wins in the history of the game, but the all-important ring as a head coach has been elusive. Hopefully, for his sake, Mahomes gets him over the postseason hump.5. How do the Cardinals compete with the Chiefs? Maybe a BBQ eating contest?Time of possession, time of possession, time of possession. I think if the Cardinals can keep the ball out of Mahomes’ hands and get a stop or two with their solid pass defense, maybe this is still “a game” in the fourth quarter. And if that’s the case, you never know. The Bills did beat the Vikings this season.
