Larry Fitzgerald never gave the NFL the kind of retirement announcement most stars do, and he had a pretty simple reason for that: he wanted to disappear quietly.
The Hall of Fame wide receiver, who spent all 17 seasons of his career with the Arizona Cardinals, never formally said he was done after the 2020 season. He became a free agent and didn’t sign another contract, but there was no press conference, no big farewell and no official last lap. Fans never got the chance to send him off knowing it was the end, and he didn’t even get a final game because he was injured.
That changes this weekend at State Farm Stadium. Fitzgerald is going into the Cardinals’ Ring of Honor and will have his No. 11 retired at halftime of Arizona’s game against the Denver Broncos. The night will bring the speech, the jersey number in the rafters and, for Cardinals fans, one more round of the familiar “Larry, Larry” chants.
Asked on Thursday why he handled his exit that way, Fitzgerald first leaned into the joke.
“ I told you a long time ago - I'm a Fitzgerald, so there's some Irish in there a long, long way back. The Irish goodbye is kind of my thing," he joked at his press conference on Thursday.
"If you ever see me at an event, say hello quick because I'm going to find that, 'hey, where's that bathroom at?' I'm going to sneak out to the car."
Then he gave the real answer.
"I left in 2020, and as you guys all remember, it was a very different time," he continued. "Playing in empty stadiums and not really having the same media availability and everything became just Zoom.
I felt like my goodbye was on Zoom and it'd be great to be able to come out there on that field. I've been to a couple of games since at home, probably more on the road.
So to be able to go in that stadium and feel that energy again; I'm just hoping when I go out there, we're up at half taking care of business and that the fans will be in a lot better mood.”
Fitzgerald has said before that he wanted his exit to feel like Tim Duncan’s with the NBA and San Antonio Spurs: no announcement, no production, just walking away.
For Cardinals fans, that meant years of wondering whether they’d ever get a proper goodbye to one of the greatest players in franchise history. Now, with Fitzgerald being honored as a Hall of Famer, they finally will.
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