BlogLab

This is the ninth installment of The McGinn Files, a weekly series looking back at NFL drafts of the past 35 years. The foundation of the series is Bob McGinn’s transcripts of his annual interviews with NFL general managers, personnel directors and scouts since 1985.

Ray Horton had schemed to contain Jerry Rice about as often as anyone alive. First, as a cornerback-safety for eight seasons with the Bengals and Cowboys. Second, as a defensive backs coach for 11 seasons with the Redskins, Bengals, Lions and Steelers.

Advertisement

Now it was 2009, five years after Rice’s final game, but Horton still kept flashing back to his illustrious adversary as he prepared for the 43rd  Super Bowl and the Arizona Cardinals in his role as secondary coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Certainly, Horton knew greatness in a wide receiver when he saw it. The more tape that he watched of Larry Fitzgerald in the two-week run-up to the Super Bowl, the more Horton understood he was trying to minimize a threat on the same level as Rice.

“Just in a different way,” Horton told me a few months after the Steelers’ 27-23 victory. “The old vertical passing game was Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders. Well, the new vertical passing game is not only 40 yards down the field but it’s 10 feet-plus in the air. This guy (Fitzgerald) is turning the game into slam-dunk basketball where Kurt Warner would throw the ball high in the air and he would just outjump everybody.”

Fitzgerald was fresh from destroying the Falcons (six receptions, 101 yards, one touchdown), the Panthers (8-166-1) and the Eagles (9-152-3) in the playoffs.

“He would be double covered in perfect coverage and this guy just raises up above everybody and catches the ball basketball-rim level,” said Horton. “In Jerry Rice’s day, if you covered him well and if you could just jump and knock the ball down, you had a chance of stopping things. But I hadn’t seen this type of deal, especially in the playoffs, at the level he (Fitzgerald) played at.

“Well, the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, we changed our strategy. We didn’t change how we were going to cover the guy. But every day we (placed) an emphasis on getting up off the ground. It did pose a different problem than Jerry Rice.”

Pittsburgh limited Fitzgerald to two targeted passes, one reception and 12 yards in the first 49 minutes. Then Fitzgerald broke loose, catching all six of his targeted throws for 115 yards and a pair of touchdowns against Ike Taylor, the Steelers’ best corner.

Advertisement

Fitzgerald’s four-game averages (7.5 catches, 136.5 yards, 1.8 touchdowns) as well as 18.2 yards per catch had never been seen in the playoffs and haven’t been seen since. It’s just one of many reasons why the 36-year-old Fitzgerald might be a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection when he decides to call it a career.

When the Cardinals used the third choice of the 2004 draft on Fitzgerald, a third-year sophomore from the University of Pittsburgh, they couldn’t have fathomed the impact that he would have on their most futile of NFL franchises. Before his arrival Arizona had experienced one winning season in the previous 19 years. Under coaches Vince Tobin and Dave McGinnis, the Cardinals had gone 6-10, 3-13, 7-9, 5-11 and 4-12 in the five years before Fitzgerald.

Five years later, the Cardinals found themselves in Tampa playing for an NFL championship for the first time since 1948.

“That’s what we set out here to do,” Fitzgerald told me in May 2009. “Change the culture. Change people’s perception of us.”

In his 16th season, Fitzgerald continues to rewrite the Cardinals’ receiving record book as possibly the franchise’s greatest player. Off the field, he has been an inspiration to many with his ceaseless humanitarian endeavors.

“Everybody loves this guy,” said Charley Armey, an NFL executive in personnel for the Packers, Falcons, Patriots and Rams from 1985-’06, who has lived in the Phoenix area since 2007. “Not just because of his football but because of how he handles himself in the community. Just a genuinely good person.

“I’ve seen a lot of great players that aren’t so great off the field. He’s just the opposite. He just lights up a room when you get around him.”

Bruce Kebric, another retired NFL exec who, like Armey, lives outside Phoenix and scouted Fitzgerald, said, “He certainly rates as the most admired athlete during my 35 years in this area. I have never heard a negative comment about him from either the media or the general public.”

Advertisement

Their words were echoed in February 2004 by Walt Harris even though the eighth-year Pitt coach was losing his best player, one with two years of eligibility remaining.

“We all have been blessed to be around such a special person and outstanding athlete in Larry Fitzgerald,” Harris said at the time. “Not only was he an unbelievable receiver, but he also set a great example of how players should respect the game. We know he will be a special player on the next level.”

Fitzgerald petitioned the NFL for entrance into the draft based on his attendance at Valley Forge Military Academy in 2001. He surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in 2002 before leading the nation with 1,672 in 2003. Oklahoma quarterback Jason White edged him for the Heisman Trophy.

“I think he’s a great player,” Tom Heckert, the Philadelphia Eagles’ vice president of player personnel, said not long after the Heisman presentation. “He’s not going to be fast but you just throw it up and he makes the play. Everybody will love the guy. I would think he’ll be the first (wide receiver) to go.”

Fitzgerald displayed wisdom well beyond his years in his professional approach to the game.

“He knows what the hell to do,” said Ron Hughes, college scouting coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. “You watch him run routes. They bracket coverage him and that kid knows. He’ll run a guy off and come back away from the coverage. For a young kid, he’s amazing.”

Growing up in Minneapolis, Fitzgerald was 9 when he first met Vikings coach Dennis Green. Fitzgerald’s father, Larry Sr., was a sportswriter who hosted and produced Green’s weekly radio show. Fitzgerald went on to become a ball boy when the Vikings conducted training camp in Mankato.

“(Cris) Carter and (Randy) Moss took a liking to him,” Vikings national scout Jerry Reichow said in 2004. “He’s got a little bit of Cris Carter in him. He uses his body well like Cris did.”

Advertisement

There isn’t much doubt that being able to hang around with elite NFL wide receivers hastened Fitzgerald’s development.

“Denny would allow him to do things in training camp with the receivers up there,” Jerry Hardaway, a scout for the Cardinals from 1987-’94 and 1996-’09, said this week. “That’s what helped Larry progress all the way through high school and college. I remember talking to Larry about how he blocked downfield (at Pitt) when they were running the ball, and that’s a rarity to see then and now. He told me he got that from Cris Carter.”

Mike Hagen, the college scouting supervisor for the Atlanta Falcons, described Fitzgerald as an “extremely precise route runner.”

At the same time, Fitzgerald demonstrated the ability to track deep balls and make the difficult catch.

“The guy has got an uncanny ability to pick the ball up in the air at any point from any angle,” general manager Jerry Angelo of the Chicago Bears said. “Some guys need to focus in on the ball and need a little time to see it come in. This guy can just blink and pick it up. He’s like a center fielder with his back to the ball and all of a sudden he turns to see where the ball is and it’s right there on his shoulder and he’s able to get that glove on it. Great hand-eye coordination.”

Nothing is more important in the evaluation of a wide receiver than the ability to catch the ball consistently, which was another area in which Fitzgerald towered above others.

“I think he’s going to be good because he has exceptional hands,” said Phil Savage, the Baltimore Ravens’ director of player personnel. “He’s got as good a pair of hands as anybody I’ve seen. That’s 10 years worth. I can’t remember anybody going after the ball with their hands as well as he does.”

Armey remembered writing in his report that Fitzgerald would catch the ball in his fingers rather than his hands and certainly not against his body.

Advertisement

“His ball skills are as good as any receiver’s in the league,” Scott Pioli, the New England Patriots’ vice president of player personnel, said. “His ability to make the difficult catch is as good as anybody coming out in this draft.”

Scot McCloughan, the director of college scouting for the Seattle Seahawks, predicted that Fitzgerald would be the first player selected from a stacked class of wide receivers.

“He’s not going to be one of those Randy Mosses,” said McCloughan. “He’s not going to blow by guys. He’s got to set stuff up. But he is really, really football smart and he’s got really strong hands. He makes his wins when the ball’s in the air. Positioning himself, going up and getting it.”

At the combine, Fitzgerald measured 6-2 7/8, weighed 225 pounds and scored 18 on the 12-minute, 50-question Wonderlic intelligence test. The combine noted that he chose not to work out because of an awards banquet that weekend.

On March 22, 2004, five weeks before the draft, Fitzgerald (6-3 1/8, 221) ran and worked out for a cluster of scouts in Pittsburgh that included Arizona’s Hardaway and Oakland’s Angelo Coia. The pro day was conducted indoors on artificial turf.

Some scouts that I spoke with at the time clocked Fitzgerald in 4.47 and 4.51. Coia’s time was 4.52. If one was to curve his times to the FieldTurf of today’s combine, it probably would be in the 4.51 to 4.56 range.

Fitzgerald’s vertical jump was 35 inches, his broad jump was 10-1, his bench press was 20 and he ran a blazing 3-cone of 6.94. His arms were 32 1/8 and his hands were 9 7/8.

“He runs good enough,” said Rich Snead, the Tennessee Titans’ director of player personnel. “He’s more like a Jerry Rice-type guy.”

The other leading receiver in the draft was Roy Williams of Texas, who was about the same size as Fitzgerald but ran in the low 4.4s at his pro day in Austin.

Advertisement

In my survey of 15 scouts asking them to rank their top six wideouts in order, Roy Williams led with 80 points and seven-first place votes, followed by Fitzgerald (78, seven). Rounding out the vote-getters were Southern Cal’s Mike Williams (46, one), LSU’s Michael Clayton (32), Wisconsin’s Lee Evans (30), Washington’s Reggie Williams (30), Ohio State’s Michael Jenkins (12), Oklahoma State’s Rashaun Woods (six) and Fresno State’s Bernard Berrian (one). Five days before the draft Mike Williams was ruled ineligible because he was only a two-year player.

“He (Roy Williams) is probably a little more freakish in terms of the physical ability, the length of his arms and body, and the actual speed,” Savage said. “Fitzgerald changes his speed and really knows how to play the position. I think Roy can just physically beat people.”

Reichow played split end for the Vikings from 1961-’64 before becoming a scout for the organization in ’66, a position he holds today albeit on a part-time basis. With seven of the top eight wideouts standing at least 6-2 (and three 6-4 or 6-4 1/2), Reichow exclaimed, “Geez, they’re huge. Biggest guys I’ve ever seen as a group. Lee Evans (5-11, 197) is different than the rest because he’s not a big guy, but he’s got big-time speed (4.41).”

Fitzgerald went No. 3 to the Cardinals followed by Roy Williams No. 7 to the Lions. Reggie Williams was taken No. 9 by the Jaguars, Evans was picked No. 13 by the Bills and Clayton went No. 15 to the Buccaneers.

It represented the only time in the history of the draft that five wide receivers were selected among the first 15 picks. The 2017 draft was the only other in which three wide receivers were single-digit selections.

Mark Hatley, the Packers’ vice president of football operations, was asked which of the top players had the best chance to bust but couldn’t come up with an answer. Angelo agreed, insisting no one would.

Pioli, however, saw trouble ahead. Mike Williams, who would be picked No. 10 by Detroit the following year, was the biggest bust of all.

Advertisement

“Because they’re big they don’t have the quickness in and out of cuts to create separation,” said Pioli. “We can sit here and give a long list of big receivers that didn’t make it in the league.”

Of the seven first-round wideouts in 2004, six caught at least 189 passes and gained at least 2,322 yards. The only flop was Woods, who caught merely seven passes in 14 games after being San Francisco’s choice at No. 31.

Jerricho Cotchery and Evans surpassed 6,000 yards, Roy Williams surpassed 5,000. Jenkins, Berrian and Devery Henderson surpassed 4,000.

Nevertheless, only two players from what was hailed by some scouts as one of the finest wide receiver classes ever were voted to the Pro Bowl (injury-replacement appearances weren’t considered). Fitzgerald, second all-time to Rice with 16,872 yards, was voted to eight Pro Bowls and Wes Welker, the free agent from Texas Tech, made four after finishing with 9,924 yards.

Nolan Nawrocki, in his first full season of a stellar 12-year career as the draft analyst for Pro Football Weekly, ranked Fitzgerald No. 1 at the position despite concerns among some scouts regarding his 40.

“Those with issues about his speed or lack thereof should remember the 15 teams that passed on Jerry Rice and his 4.6 time in the 40,” wrote Nawrocki. “There is track speed and there is playing speed. Those who overanalyze and pass may wish they hadn’t.”

In early January, the Cardinals hired Green to replace McGinnis and promoted Rod Graves to vice president of football operations. According to Hardaway, the Bidwill family invested the authority on the draft to Green.

“Denny had seen Larry,” Hardaway said. “Larry Fitzgerald was the guy. Denny made that call.”

Hardaway had scouted Fitzgerald in a game at Temple in late November. Bill Dekraker, one of the team’s area scouts, also had seen Fitzgerald. Hardaway represented Arizona at the Pitt pro day.

Advertisement

“Denny told me, ‘When you go to Pittsburgh to look at this kid look at him with your eyes because I’ll trust what you tell me,’” said Hardaway. “He didn’t have hand-held speed time, but I came back and told him he played faster than he ran the 40. Nobody caught him.”

Fitzgerald, together with linebacker Karlos Dansby in the second round, defensive end Darnell Dockett in the third round and defensive tackle Antonio Smith in the fifth round, gave Green possibly the best draft in club history.

The Cardinals already had a Pro Bowl wide receiver in Anquan Boldin, a second-round pick from Florida State in 2003 who ran a mere 4.65.

“I compared him somewhat to Anquan,” Hardaway said. “We had two guys now that wanted to work. Larry brought a work ethic in.

“Larry brought leadership. I remember when he came to the sideline (at Pitt) guys would come up to him. Third, he brought a humbleness. ‘If I’m having success, it’s because of everybody else around me.’”

An immediate starter, Fitzgerald played 1,065 snaps but his 58 receptions weren’t enough to beat out Roy Williams and Clayton on the all-rookie team. His production skyrocketed in 2005 (an NFL-leading 103 receptions) with Kurt Warner at quarterback rather than Josh McCown.

“Runs clean, precise routes,” a pro scout for one team wrote in June 2006. “Possesses great play-making ability.”

Counting playoffs, the Cardinals have played 260 games since drafting Fitzgerald. He has been in 254, missing three games in 2006 (hamstring), one in ’07 (groin) and two in ’14 (knee).

His career best in yards was 1,431 in 2008. His career best in touchdowns was 13 in ’09.

“He’s a difference-maker,” another pro scout wrote in January 2010. “He is a deep threat. He can separate vertically.”

In retirement, Armey has been to several Cardinals games during Fitzgerald’s career in addition to watching a countless number of games at home.

Advertisement

“Never once did I use what the 40 time was when I evaluated a player,” said Armey. “There’s a lot of guys that could run 4.39 but couldn’t play 4.65. They (his scouts) would come back and start bragging about a speed. I’d say, ‘I don’t want to hear that. I want to know how fast does he play?’

“Jerry Rice was never a blazer. Isaac Bruce wasn’t fast. Torry Holt was not a blazer. But I knew they played fast.

“There’s so many things that go into playing speed. You’ve got to have instincts, you’ve got to have awareness, you’ve got to have ability to get in and out of cuts.”

Competitiveness and consistency have been Fitzgerald’s trademarks in Arizona just as they were at Pitt, according to Armey.

“And he’s quarterback friendly,” he added. “He knows how to get to where he can bail a quarterback out. Other guys run patterns and get lazy. They don’t compete. But that’s just the opposite with him. He’s always working to help his quarterback.”

In addition to durability, Fitzgerald’s stamina might be second to none. In the 13 seasons in which he has been available for each game, his snap percentages were 96.2% in 2004, 98% in ’05, 96.8% in ’08, 95.5% on ’09, 97.5% in ’10, 98.5% in ’11, 97.9% in ’12, 92.1% in ’13, 89.2% in ’15, 91.4% in ’16, 95.5% in ’17, 92.6% in ’18 and 83.8% through 11 games this season.

When Bruce Arians took over for Ken Whisenhunt in 2013 he introduced Fitzgerald to a new position: slot receiver. His role inside became more pronounced in 2015, making it easier for him to release from press coverage and move into chain-moving windows.

“His speed is merely sufficient at 32 years old but No. 11 (Fitzgerald) remains a solid, productive starter that has aged well in Arians’ system,” a third pro scout for an NFL club wrote in October 2015. “Has transitioned well into the Hines Ward role. He does not fear contact in the blood area, and is fully ready to absorb the contact necessary to secure the catch.

Advertisement

“His routes, especially intermediate cuts, are clinic-tape worthy. Tempoing, stemming, lifting, attacking leverage. His best skill, overall, is snatching hands at the catch point.

“In the run game, No. 11 is essentially used as an F-type interior blocker. Executing backside play-action protection, chip releases and insert/tear/crack blocks from tightened down splits. His physicality has faded over time but he’s a willing and able blocker.”

Even now, more than halfway through his 16th season, Fitzgerald is tied for 20th in receptions with a team-high 55 and ranks 33rd in receiving yards with 593.

Not unlike Vin Scully’s final game broadcasting the Dodgers or Jack Nicklaus’ last walk at Augusta National, it’s worth savoring Fitzgerald down the stretch because this might be the end of his remarkable career.

Next week: Dak Prescott

(Top photo: Sean Brady / WireImage via Getty Images)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57kG1naW5ha3xzfJByZmppX2d%2FcMDHnmSmm5eeu695xaKjnqtdnbJut82orqxlp52utXnToZxmoJWhuW7AzmabqGWknbJuwMClomaZkqTCtXnLmqmrsV2btrXGxp6pmqSUYq%2Bmss6rnGasmJp6c3yPbWSdqpGbwXA%3D