GLENDALE - Larry Fitzgerald’s day in the sun at State Farm Stadium doubled as a blunt reminder for the Cardinals: life after No. 11 has been a prolonged search.
On Sunday, Arizona inducted Fitzgerald into the team’s Ring of Honor and retired his No. 11 in a halftime ceremony, making him the 20th member of the Ring of Honor and just the sixth former Cardinals star to have his number retired. Fitzgerald, who played 17 seasons in Arizona before leaving the field for good after the 2020 season, put the moment in personal terms.
“I started here. I wanted to finish here. And now my name gets to stay here,” Fitzgerald said during the halftime induction ceremony.
The celebration honored one of the greatest players in franchise history, and one of the best pass catchers the league has ever seen. Only Jerry Rice sits ahead of Fitzgerald in career receptions and receiving yards. During Arizona’s 2008 run to Super Bowl 43, Fitzgerald led the NFL in receiving touchdowns and finished second in receiving yards.
But the mood around the organization after the ceremony was shaped by what has happened since he retired. The Cardinals have won only one season since 2020, and they lost again on the day Fitzgerald was honored, falling to the Broncos 30-16 with the Red Sea replaced by a sea of orange-clad Broncos fans.
That loss only sharpened the familiar question hanging over the offense: who is going to fill the void Fitzgerald left at wide receiver?
Arizona has spent the last six seasons cycling through options. A.J.
Green and DeAndre Hopkins arrived with big résumés, but both were past their peak and never became the dependable No. 1 target the Cardinals needed. Marquise “Hollywood” Brown brought speed and youth after a 1,000-yard season in Baltimore, and for a while he looked like a possible long-term answer.
The flashes were there, but his stay lasted only two years.
The franchise then tried to solve the problem with a premium draft pick. In the 2024 NFL Draft, Arizona held the fourth overall selection in what was widely viewed as a receiver-rich class and used it on Marvin Harrison Jr. out of Ohio State.
He came in with massive expectations as a generational talent groomed by his father Marvin Sr. But Harrison didn’t pan out and was traded to Houston this season, adding another miss to the Cardinals’ recent run of personnel swings.
There has been one steady presence in the passing game: tight end Trey McBride, who has emerged as one of the league’s best at his position and become a franchise cornerstone. Beyond him, the list of accomplished wideouts since Fitzgerald’s departure stays short.
Michael Wilson is the only Cardinals wide receiver besides McBride to post a 1,000-yard season in that span. Wilson turned in a career year in 2025 with 1,006 receiving yards on 78 catches and seven touchdowns, good enough to earn a three-year extension reportedly worth $75 million during the offseason.
This year, though, his pace has cooled. Through seven games, he has 375 yards and one touchdown, with 37 receptions on 66 targets.
Arizona’s quarterback situation hasn’t helped, though Fitzgerald spent plenty of his own years dealing with instability under center. And with the Cardinals sitting at 2-5, the front office is once again staring at another chance to reset.
If the season ended today, Arizona would hold the seventh overall pick. That would likely put a franchise quarterback back in play, and the team could also look for another wide receiver to pair with McBride, Wilson and rookie running back Jeremiyah Love in coach Mike LaFleur’s system. Among the second-round names mentioned as possible fits are Arizona State’s Reed Harris, Texas’ Ryan Wingo and Clemson’s Bryant Wesco Jr.
For all the ceremony and nostalgia on Sunday, the final word belonged to Fitzgerald. As he closed his remarks, he told the crowd, “I’ll be a Cardinal forever.”
The franchise can only wish the replacement search had ended just as easily.
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