Did the chances of the Vikings signing Larry Fitzgerald just increase?
By Adam Patrick
A recent signing by the Arizona Cardinals might help the Minnesota Vikings convince Larry Fitzgerald to play for his hometown team.
For the last few years, a group of Minnesota Vikings fans have wondered if their favorite team would ever attempt to bring Larry Fitzgerald back to his home state.
Fitzgerald has been a free agent during the last few offseasons, but each time he has decided to re-sign with the Arizona Cardinals, the team that selected him with the No. 3 pick in the 2004 NFL Draft.
The Minnesota native is a free agent once again this year and the biggest question is whether he will retire or try to continue playing for another season. If Fitzgerald wants to continue his career in the NFL, it might not happen with the Cardinals after the signing they made on Wednesday.
Will Larry Fitzgerald end his playing career with the Minnesota Vikings?
The first two days of this year’s unofficial free agency period were pretty eventful and this continued to be the same on Wednesday as well.
In an effort to improve the depth of their receiving corps, Arizona and free-agent pass-catcher A.J. Green agreed to a one-year deal on Wednesday, according to multiple reports. The addition of Green likely spells the end of Fitzgerald’s time with the Cardinals.
So if he doesn’t return to Arizona and he doesn’t retire, where will the 37-year-old receiver play next season?
With the Vikings currently needing a No. 3 receiver, Fitzgerald signing with the team that he used to be a ball-boy for seems like it could be a possibility. Back in 2015, he told the Pioneer Press’ Chris Tomasson, “you never know,” when asked about the chances of ever suiting up for the purple and gold.
Of course, it would likely come down to how much money the veteran pass-catcher is looking for. Fitzgerald hasn’t made less than $11 million in a season since 2013, but that isn’t an amount Minnesota would ever agree to pay someone they want to be their No. 3 receiver.
If he’s willing to sign a contract that pays him closer to $5 million, then the Vikings might be more interested in adding him to their roster.
Fitzgerald finished with a career-low 54 catches and 409 receiving yards last season, so his performance appears to be trending down. However, these totals still would have been the third-best for Minnesota in 2020, behind Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen.
Fitzgerald has reliable hands, he’s been a solid run-blocker during his career, and he can add some veteran leadership to a young Vikings locker room that just lost Kyle Rudolph and Riley Reiff.
Due to how things turned out in the past with Fitzgerald, signing with the Vikings isn’t something that should be expected from him. But there always seems to be at least a small chance of it actually happening since he grew up in the great state of Minnesota.