Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Larry Darnell Fitzgerald Jr. was born on August 31st, 1983, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a former wide receiver in the NFL.

In his early years, Fitzgerald attended Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Minnesota. After high school, he committed to the University of Pittsburgh where he was widely considered one of the best wide receivers in college football. In his freshman season, Fitzgerald was an instant contributor. He finished the 2002 season, Fitzgerald had a Big-East conference leading 69 receptions for 1,005 yards and twelve touchdowns. In 2003, Fitzgerald had a stellar sophomore season. He started the season strong where against Texas State A&M, he had his fourth consecutive game with at least 100 receiving yards. Despite having a season-low in yardage, Fitzgerald ended up recording his 12th consecutive game with at least one touchdown reception in the 2003 season, and 18th straight game with a touchdown reception dating back to the previous season. Fitzgerald led the Big East conference with 92 receptions for 1,672 yards and 22 touchdowns in the 2003 season, and his 22 touchdowns also led the NCAA in 2003. After his sophomore season, Fitzgerald was recognized as the best player in the NCAA with the 2003 Walter Camp Award and the Touchdown Club of Columbus's Chic Harley Award, and as the best wide receiver in college football with the 2003 Biletnikoff Award and the Touchdown Club's Paul Warfield Award. He was also a unanimous 2003 All-America selection and a runner-up for the prestigious Heisman Trophy, given to the most outstanding player in college football. In just 26 games with the Panthers, Fitzgerald caught 161 passes for 2,677 yards and set a new Pitt record with 34 receiving touchdowns and was the first player in school history with back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons, and his 14 games with at least 100 yards receiving broke Antonio Bryant's previous all-time Panthers record of 13. Fitzgerald's 18 straight games with at least one touchdown reception is an NCAA record. After his tremendous sophomore year, Fitzgerald was drafted third overall in the 2004 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals and was the first wide receiver to be selected in the 2004 NFL Draft. Fitzgerald made his NFL debut on September 12 against the St. Louis Rams. On October 10, he had his first career touchdown reception, a 24-yard pass from Josh McCown, against the San Francisco 49ers and on December 19, against the St. Louis Rams, Fitzgerald became the youngest player at 21 years and 110 days, to record at least two touchdown receptions in a single game. Fitzgerald finished his rookie season with 59 receptions for 780 yards and eight touchdowns. Fitzgerald started his second professional season in 2005, with 13-receptions for 155-yards, and one touchdown performance against the New York Giants in the season opener on September 11. In 2005, Fitzgerald led the NFL with 103 receptions for 1,409 yards which was fourth in the NFL and 10 touchdowns which was fifth in the NFL and was named to his first Pro Bowl. He teamed with Anquan Boldin to create one of the most dangerous wide receiver tandem in the NFL and were the second tandem to each catch over 100 passes top the 1,400-yard mark. In 2006, Fitzgerald started his third professional season with nine receptions for 133 yards against the San Francisco 49ers and had his first touchdown of the season in the third game against the St. Louis Rams. He ended the season with 69 receptions for 946 yards and six touchdowns. In 2007, Fitzgerald made for the second time of his career prior to the 2006 Pro Bowl season where he caught 100 receptions for 1,409 yards and 10 touchdowns. Following the 2007 season, he signed a four-year contract extension and thanks to his numbers, he earned the nickname "Sticky Fingers" and "The Best Hands in the NFL" in local media. The 2008 season marked a huge year for Fitzgerald in terms of individual accomplishment and team success. He finished the regular season with 96 receptions for 1,431 yards and a league-leading 12 touchdowns and for the first time in Fitzgerald's career, the Cardinals finished with a winning record at 9-7 and made the playoffs. In his playoff debut, Fitzgerald had six receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown in a 30-24 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in the Wild Card Round. In the Divisional Round against the Carolina Panthers, he had eight receptions for 166 yards in the 33-13 victory. During the NFC Championship for the 2008 NFL season, Fitzgerald tied an NFL record with three touchdown receptions in a playoff game in which his three touchdown catches occurred in the first half; he became the first player in NFL history to accomplish that feat in a conference championship game. During Super Bowl XLIII, Fitzgerald caught two touchdown passes in the game. Fitzgerald followed up his great 2008 season by catching two more touchdown passes in the 2009 Pro Bowl, earning him MVP honors. After his record-breaking postseason, Fitzgerald was regarded as one of the best receivers in the NFL and was named as a First-Team All-Pro for the 2008 season. Fitzgerald started the 2009 season with six receptions for 71 yards against the San Francisco 49ers. He finished out the 2009 regular season with a receiving touchdown in the last three games. Overall, he had 97 receptions for 1,092 yards and a league-leading 13 touchdowns as the Cardinals went 10–6 and returned to the playoffs. After being eliminated in the Divisional Round, he was named to his third consecutive and fourth career Pro Bowl for his efforts in 2009. On August 20, 2011, Fitzgerald signed an 8-year contract extension with the Cardinals and tying him as the fifth highest paid player at that time. On November 13, in Week 10, his efforts against the Eagles garnered him NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Fitzgerald had another stellar season, catching 80 passes for 1,411 yards and eight touchdowns and setting a personal record of 17.6 yards per catch. Fitzgerald's accomplishments were recognized by an All-Pro second-team selection as well as his sixth Pro Bowl selection. He finished ranked as the seventh best player in the league among his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2012 list. In the 2012 season, Fitzgerald had 71 receptions for 798 yards and four touchdowns and was named to his sixth consecutive and seventh career Pro Bowl. He finished ranked 22nd by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2013, while in the 2013 season, Fitzgerald had 82 receptions for 954 yards and ten touchdowns and was named to his seventh consecutive and eighth overall Pro Bowl. He finished ranked 38th by his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2014. In the 2014 season, he started his 11th season in the NFL against the San Diego Chargers where he only caught one reception for 22 yards and did not have his first touchdown of the season until the fifth game of the season against the Washington Redskins. On October 26 against the Philadelphia Eagles, he had seven receptions for a season-high 160 yards and a touchdown to earn his third career NFC Offensive Player of the Week award. Fitzgerald finished the season with 63 receptions for 784 yards and two touchdowns and ranked 68th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2015. On February 18, 2015, Fitzgerald signed a new multi-year contract with the Cardinals. In Week 2 against the Chicago Bears, Fitzgerald had 112 receiving yards and caught three touchdown passes, the first time he accomplished the feat during the regular season in his career and was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for the fourth time in his career. In Week 13, he became the youngest player to reach 1,000 career receptions. He finished the 2015 season with 109 catches for 1,215 yards and nine touchdowns and was selected to the Pro Bowl for the ninth time. He was ranked 27th on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016. On August 5, 2016, Fitzgerald signed a one-year contract extension with the Cardinals. On September 11, 2016, Fitzgerald had eight receptions for 81 yards and two touchdowns, while becoming the 10th player to reach 100 career touchdowns, in the season opener against the New England Patriots. At the end of the 2016 season, Fitzgerald led the NFL in receptions for the second time with 107 and had 1,023 receiving yards with six receiving touchdowns. He moved from 11th to 3rd on the all-time career reception list and ended the season ninth all-time in receiving yards. He was named to his tenth career Pro Bowl and was ranked 45th by his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2017. Fitzgerald entered the 2017 season as the career leader in receptions and receiving yards among active players. On November 17, 2017, Fitzgerald signed a one-year contract extension with the Cardinals through the 2018 season. He tied his career-best with 109 receptions and 8th in the NFL with 1,156 receiving yards. On December 19, 2017, Fitzgerald was named to his 11th Pro Bowl and was ranked 27th on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018. In Week 16 of the 2018 season, Fitzgerald threw the first touchdown pass of his NFL career after taking a lateral pass from Josh Rosen, he tossed a 32-yard pass to David Johnson for the first Cardinals score against the Los Angeles Rams. He finished the season as the Cardinals leading receiver with 69 receptions for a career-low 734 yards with six receiving touchdowns and on January 23, 2019, Fitzgerald announced he would return for the 2019 season, and signed a one-year contract extension with the Cardinals. In a Week 4  loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Fitzgerald passed Tony Gonzalez for second-most career receptions in NFL history.

Fitzgerald's father, Larry Fitzgerald Sr., is a sportswriter for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. When he covered Super Bowl XLIII, he was believed to be the first reporter to cover his own son in a Super Bowl.