Larry Fitzgerald’s incredible legacy as he awaits the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame call

Larry Fitzgerald’s story

Larry Fitzgerald’s story is unique. At 14 years old he got a job as a ball boy with the Minnesota Vikings. His father, Larry Fitzgerald Senior, worked in sports media, and he was close to coach Dennis Green, the head coach of the Vikings in the 90s.

He’d grown up in Richmond, Minnesota, and as Larry himself said, he’d ‘worshipped the ground Cris Carter walked on’. So getting to see him go to work Monday to Saturday was a dream come true. He was always around the football, retrieving it for the players or helping out around the drills, so Fitzgerald was catching footballs all day long.

Everything he learned from inside the Minnesota Vikings organization served him well in college. Fitzgerald spent one year at the Forge Valley Military Academy, before going to the University of Pittsburgh for two seasons.

He was immediately one of the best wide receivers in college football, with a 6’3″ frame and incredible hands. He caught everything, and in his first year at Pitt managed 69 receptions for 1,005 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns.

The following year, he cemented his position as the best WR in the country. Fitzgerald caught 92 passes for a stunning 1,672 receiving yards and 22 touchdowns. In just 26 games of college football, he’d scored 34 touchdowns.

Unsurprisingly, he won every award in the country that year, including the Fred Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s greatest wide receiver, and the Walter Camp Award, given to the nation’s best player. He was the Big East Offensive Player of the Year and a unanimous All-American before declaring for the 2004 NFL draft.

Larry Fitzgerald’s sensational NFL career

Larry Fitzgerald was drafted third overall in the 2004 NFL draft, the same year that Eli Manning was controversially taken first overall by the San Diego Chargers. The man that drafted him, Dennis Green, the same coach he’d been a ball boy for in Minnesota.

The Cardinals needed a quarterback that year. Philip Rivers was on the board. In fact, he was drafted the very next pick by the Giants. But Green wanted Fitzgerald, and the Cardinals made the call.

Kurt Warner arrived the following season, now a veteran with a Super Bowl ring after a long road to the NFL. The two quickly built a great relationship on the field, and in their first season playing together in 2005, Fitzgerald amassed 103 catches, 1,409 receiving yards, and 10 touchdowns.

By 2008, the Cardinals had fought their way back to winning ways. Their 9-7 record that year was enough to win the NFC West, which started one of the most impressive postseason performances in NFL history.

Larry Fitzgerald caught 6 passes for 101 yards and a touchdown in a 30-24 win over the Atlanta Falcons in the wildcard round. Then he caught eight passes for 166 yards and a touchdown in a 33-13 drubbing over the Carolina Panthers in the divisional round.

But in the NFC Championship game, he had one of the best games of his life. Playing against Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles, Fitzgerald caught nine passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns. He was on a mission that day, refusing to go down.

After securing his first touchdown, he caught another in the second quarter, with Kurt Warner heaving a deep ball that Larry secured, stepping over the last defender to walk into the end zone for a 62-yard score. Right before halftime, he caught his third, having been given a one-on-one matchup right on the goal line, and winning easily to give Arizona a 21-6 lead.

While the Eagles fought, they couldn’t do enough to get back into the game, and Larry Fitzgerald’s Cardinals were headed to the Super Bowl.

His superior performance never let up in the big game either. Fitzgerald was as good as he’d been all season, and with less than three minutes to go against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he caught a ball over the middle and ran right through the Pittsburgh defense.

His 64-yard score gave the Cardinals the lead in Super Bowl XLIII, and as he wheeled away celebrating, it felt like Fitzgerald was going to get his crowning moment on the grandest stage.

Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. Santonio Holmes’ toe tap catch in the back corner of the endzone buried Larry Fitzgerald’s Super Bowl dream, but what an unbelievable season he’d had. In the 2008 postseason alone, he caught 30 passes for 546 yards and seven touchdowns. Those are unbelievable numbers in three win-or-go-home playoff games and a Super Bowl.

Larry wanted a Super Bowl desperately, but he wasn’t willing to waive his loyalty to the Cardinals to get it. He stuck with them for 17 years, through the ups and the downs. He would have to wait until the 2015 season to make it back to an NFC Championship game, following several quarterback changes and the eventual arrival of Carson Palmer.

It was his magical moment against the Green Bay Packers that had gotten them there, but they couldn’t overcome the Cam Newton-led Panthers to reach the Super Bowl.

As he got older and entered the final years of his pro career, Larry altered his playing style entirely by moving into the slot full time. He adapted to a new role in the offense, and continued to have success as one of the most productive receivers in the league.

Larry Fitzgerald’s career achievements

While Larry Fitzgerald never secured the Super Bowl he so desperately craved, his career statistics are out of this world.

Fitz now sits in second place on the all-time career receiving leaderboard, behind only Jerry Rice. No other receiver has ever cleared 16,000 receiving yards, leaving the two men on an island all of their own.

Fitzgerald received countless accolades throughout his NFL career, including:

He is one of the greatest wide receivers in the history of the game, and an even better man. He asked questions, got to know everybody in the building, and took the time to encourage the youth whenever he got the chance. He even managed to be a gentleman at all times on the field, handing the football to the referee after every touchdown before celebrating with his team mates.

Fitzgerald was never about himself, but became one of the greatest individual players the NFL has ever seen, and a sure bet for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.