Fitzgerald: I Protest the Word Retirement
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- Larry Fitzgerald has not formally or officially retired from football or the Arizona Cardinals, five years after playing his final game at age 37 in the 2020 season
- Fitzgerald said he 'protests the word' retirement and doesn't believe in it, recalling a conversation about his grandfather's friend John Stroger — a longtime Chicago commissioner — who said 'retirement [is] killing more people in our country than anything'
- Fitzgerald played all 17 seasons of his NFL career with one franchise, the Arizona Cardinals, and said he deliberately avoided a farewell tour, opting instead to 'just walk away quietly'
- Fitzgerald admitted he considered leaving the Cardinals at one point and even had conversations about it, but said 'I loved where I was at' and didn't know if going to a 'super team' would have meant the same
- Fitzgerald will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday in Canton, Ohio
Why it matters: Fitzgerald's refusal to use the word 'retirement' reframes one of the NFL's most debated career milestones — at 42, with 17 seasons and a Hall of Fame nod already locked in, his stance reframes retirement as a transition rather than an end, potentially shaping how aging athletes narrate their exits.
