2026 Hall of Fame: Larry Fitzgerald was arguably the greatest Cardinals player ever
Five men — Drew Brees, Roger Craig, Luke Kuechly, Larry Fitzgerald and Adam Vinatieri — will be formally enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday in Canton, Ohio. Yahoo Sports will take a relatively short look at each legend and how he reached football immortality.
Jerry Rice far outpaces nearly any other wide receiver in NFL history statistically, and he's roundly viewed as the best ever to play the position.
But there's a strong case for Larry Fitzgerald Jr. to be in the No. 2 spot, just behind Rice. Second all time in receptions. Second in receiving yards. Sixth in TDs.
He was somehow even better in the playoffs, too. Fitzgerald averaged 104.5 receiving yards per game and scored 10 touchdowns in his nine postseason starts.
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Fitzgerald's career was defined by consistency, character and clutch moments, thriving for an incredible 17 seasons — all with the Arizona Cardinals. He is arguably the best player in franchise history, which spans back more than a century to St. Louis and Chicago.
And after 11 Pro Bowls and three All-Pro Team mentions, not to mention his 2016 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, missing a mere eight games over the course of his career, Fitzgerald was one of the easier first-ballot Hall of Famers in recent memory.
Larry Fitzgerald, destined for greatness
Fitzgerald grew up in Minnesota, the son of long-time Vikings writer Larry Fitzgerald Sr., attending Vikings practices and even being a team ballboy for the club, along with his brother, Marcus, in grade school and high school.
There Fitzgerald interacted with Vikings head coach Denny Green and a who's who of offensive superstars, including Cris Carter, Randy Moss and Warren Moon. It was his first taste of what it takes to be great in the NFL, as well as NFL greats' first look at how special he was at a young age.
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After incredible seasons at Pitt (his father's alma mater), Fitzgerald was the No. 3 overall pick of the Cardinals in the 2004 NFL Draft, selected by Green, the then-Arizona head coach who'd watched over the young Fitzgerald a decade earlier. That draft is regarded as one of the great all-time QB drafts, headlined by Eli Manning, Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger. But Fitzgerald beat them all to Canton, with only Jared Allen — who retired after the 2015 season — earning induction prior to him from that draft class.
Following a solid rookie season, Fitzgerald earned the first of his 11 Pro Bowl invitations, all in a 13-year span that saw him average more than 90 catches and 1,100 yards per season. And even as Fitzgerald played with the likes of Kurt Warner, Carson Palmer and Kyler Murray, he wasn't always the beneficiary of elite QB play.
Carter said Fitzgerald was "the crème de la crème" at catching the football, even noting how that talent was evident when he was the Vikings' ballboy. Just how consistently great was he? An apocryphal statistic has often been attached to Fitzgerald's career: that he had more tackles in the NFL than dropped passes. Verifiable or not, it's one of the more absurd claims about Fitzgerald's reliability and a testament to his greatness.
The 2008 playoff run that cemented Fitzgerald as elite
The 2008 season was one of the most memorable in Cardinals history. The team labored through a 9-7 regular season, limped into the postseason with four losses (three blowouts) after Week 11 and lost all four of their East Coast games that season.
But once the playoffs started, Fitzgerald and Warner carried the Cardinals to within an eyelash of greatness.
Fitzgerald had just completed his best regular season to that point, with 96 receptions for 1,431 yards and 12 TDs. His four playoff games that season raised the bar to a new level.
In those four games, Fitzgerald caught a then-playoff record 30 passes (later topped by Cooper Kupp), still holding the record for most receiving yards (546) and receiving TDs (seven) in a single postseason. He topped the 100-yard mark and scored at least one TD in each playoff game, averaging 136.5 yards.
After leading the Cardinals to wins over the Falcons, Panthers and Eagles, the Cardinals made their first and only Super Bowl, facing the vaunted Steelers and one of the best defenses of that era. Fitzgerald helped Arizona rally from a 20-7 deficit and put the Cardinals ahead in the final minutes of the game with two fourth-quarter TDs, including a thrilling 64-yard catch and run with 2:37 remaining.
Never forget this legendary touchdown from Larry Fitzgerald in the Super Bowl 🏆 pic.twitter.com/SXCFHGWMSB
— Nosebleed Baseball (@Baseball_NBS) May 28, 2026
Santonio Holmes' miracle catch in the back of the end zone prevented Fitzgerald and the Cardinals from achieving a franchise-defining victory.
And though the team would never reach those heights again, Fitzgerald remained a playoff monster through most of his career, catching 57 passes for 942 yards and 10 scores in nine postseason games. His eight-catch, 176-yard, one-TD effort in an overtime win over the Packers was another signature playoff moment for the Hall of Famer.
