Michael Floyd's last shot or the beginning of his reign?

In what feels like a recurring question posed towards the Arizona Cardinals every off season, it's the time of the year where we talk about Michael Floyd and what the next step in his development is.

After an up and down rookie season, like so many rookie wide receivers have, 2013 looked like the beginning of the next step for Floyd taking over as the top receiver in the desert.

Then 2014 happened and Floyd's progress hit a sort of stumbling block, much of which has been attributed to the 10 games absence of Carson Palmer.

The problem with that theory is based on the numbers, it's a pretty inaccurate statement.

Floyd was slightly worse in 2014 with Palmer as his quarterback, now that's only 6 games, but we saw early that the big plays Floyd made in '13 were now moving into John Brown's capable hands.

That means 2015 becomes a big year for Floyd. He heads into the last year of his rookie deal and although the Cards have picked up his 2016 option, it's no guarantee he'll be on the roster this time next year.

I said a couple years ago that although Floyd is a better athlete, his career trajectory kind of reminds me of Mushin Muhammad, the two time Pro Bowl receiver for the Carolina Panthers. Muhammad had three 1000+ yard receiving years and in 2004, he recorded 1400 yards and 16 touchdowns. The thing for Muhammad was, he was always in Steve Smith's shadow.

Floyd has been fighting to break out of Larry Fitzgerald's shadow the last couple of seasons, and despite putting up better numbers than Fitz, many are still waiting for that breakout from Floyd.

Can he break out, or is Arians offense, with all the weapons, just not conducive to a big year for Floyd? Should we readjust ohur expectations?

Floyd's time has to be now in Arizona for the Cardinals to feel good about paying him $7.3 million in 2016, or it could be just another miss from the Graves/Whisenhunt era.