Larry Fitzgerald is in for a historic 2018 season

Larry Fitzgerald has already established himself as one of the best wide receivers to ever play football, let alone being the best player in Arizona Cardinals’ history. He continues to play at a high level even at the age of 34, where receivers normally see a drop in production. Fitzgerald is currently in a tie with Tony Gonzalez with 211 consecutive games with a catch.

Here are some records/facts that he holds:

• Tied with Antonio Brown, Andre Johnson, and Wes Welker for the second-most 100 catch seasons in a career (5)
• He is only 1 of 14 players in NFL history to have over 1,000 receptions in a career (1,234)
• He is the second-fastest player to reach 10,000 receiving yards (fastest is Randy Moss)
• No one has caught 1,200 passes in a career faster than Fitzgerald

The 2017 season was a certainly an historic year for Fitzgerald, surpassing Marvin Harrison, Steve Smith, Tim Brown, Tony Gonzalez, Isaac Bruce, and Randy Moss to have the third-most receiving yards in an NFL career. He only needs 390 receiving yards to pass Terrell Owens for second all-time in NFL history. Considering the fact that Fitzgerald averaged 1,131 yards the past three seasons, it should not be difficult for him to pass Owens.

He also caught 109 balls in 2017, which moved him up to third all-time in catches trailing only Tony Gonzalez and Jerry Rice. Fitzgerald only needs 92 catches to pass Gonzalez for second all-time. He has averaged over 100 catches the past three seasons due to Bruce Arians placement of him in the slot. With a new head coach in Steve Wilks, we won’t know how Fitzgerald will be used until the regular season begins.

In 2016, Fitzgerald stated that he won’t catch Rice or Gonzalez records. Now he may not have a chance at breaking Jerry Rice’s record, he did pass Gonzalez in receiving yards this past season. He has a legitimate chance surpassing Gonzalez in catches this year. If he can play for another three seasons, he could break Rice’s record in receptions.

People across the National Football League and media speculate that Fitzgerald will retire at the end of every season. Even I thought that he would retire at the end of the 2016 season. I wish that #LarryLegend could play forever but we all know that all things will come to an end at some point. It is realistic to believe that he will play in 2019 but this could be dependent on how the team does in the upcoming season. There is still plenty of good football left in him if he chooses to play beyond 2018. His contract will expire at the end of the season.

Fitzgerald is a monster, a beast, a winner, a leader, and most certainly the best. You name it, he has changed the game of football and is one of the most respected people in the world. Whether he breaks the above records or not, he will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Let’s cap off his legendary and historic career with a ring. LARRY! LARRY! LARRY!

Statistics from Pro Football Reference