Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald ended the speculation about his plans for the 2017 season this week by telling people he will continue his playing career, but the decision apparently came a bit earlier.
Fitzgerald said that he was watching the Packers and Cowboys play in the divisional round of the playoffs and realized “the fire was burning” to play in another postseason game.
“I’m a year removed from being in a game like this, that’s competitive,” Fitzgerald said, via Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic. “I got David Johnson. I got Patrick Peterson. I got Tyrann Mathieu, Chandler Jones.All these super-talented guys coming back on this team. I can’t go out on 7-8-1. That’s not how I want to do it. With the combination of those, and my body feeling much, much better now, is probably what made me feel the way I do.”
Next season will be the last one on Fitzgerald’s current contract, but he said he’s not giving any thought to what he’ll do after the 2017 season at this point. He’s also not sure what quarterback Carson Palmer will do as their last conversation had nothing to do with football. Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said this week that he thinks Palmer will announce soon that he plans to play in 2017.