The Buccaneers tried to sign Larry Fitzgerald for a late-season run last season.
That’s the word from former Bucs coach Bruce Arians, who said on Arizona Sports 98.7 that he reached out to Fitzgerald when the Bucs were shorthanded at wide receiver last year, but that Fitzgerald told him he wasn’t in playing shape.
“When we lost our guys, especially when Chris Godwin got hurt, I called Fitz. He said, ‘Coach, I couldn’t run two plays right now, but thanks.’ I said, ‘I just had to check,’” Arians said today.
The 38-year-old Fitzgerald is an 11-time Pro Bowler and played for Arians for five seasons in Arizona. But Fitzgerald didn’t play at all last year, and by the end of the year he clearly didn’t think he was physically capable of doing it anymore.
It would have been quite a story if Fitzgerald had returned to the field while the Bucs were making their run to the postseason. But if Fitzgerald didn’t think he could do it, it’s probably for the best that he stayed home.