The Cardinals re-signed Larry Fitzgerald last week, so he'll be back for another season in 2019. Fair to wonder, though, if his days of fantasy relevance are over. He'll turn 36 before the start of next season, and comes off the lowest yardage total of his 15-year career.
Working with a scattershot rookie passer in the league's worst offense was obviously a huge part of Fitzgerald's down numbers. If Kliff Kingsbury is able to work some kind of magic with Josh Rosen, maybe Fitzgerald has another viable year to him. But the indicators aren't good.
Again: maybe he's pretty much the same wideout he's always been. But Fitzgerald was able to corral only 61 percent of the passes sent his way last year. Among wideouts who caught 50 passes in 2018, that was one of the worst rates in the league.
| CATCH RATES FOR WIDEOUTS, 2018 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | Rec | % | Yds | Avg | TD |
| Michael Thomas, N.O. | 147 | 125 | 85.0% | 1405 | 11.2 | 9 |
| Tyler Lockett, Sea. | 70 | 57 | 81.4% | 965 | 16.9 | 10 |
| Cole Beasley, Dall. | 87 | 65 | 74.7% | 672 | 10.3 | 3 |
| Danny Amendola, Mia. | 79 | 59 | 74.7% | 575 | 9.7 | 1 |
| Adam Thielen, Minn. | 153 | 113 | 73.9% | 1373 | 12.2 | 9 |
| Chester Rogers, Ind. | 72 | 53 | 73.6% | 485 | 9.2 | 2 |
| Adam Humphries, T.B. | 105 | 76 | 72.4% | 816 | 10.7 | 5 |
| Emmanuel Sanders, Den. | 98 | 71 | 72.4% | 868 | 12.2 | 4 |
| Taylor Gabriel, Chi. | 93 | 67 | 72.0% | 688 | 10.3 | 2 |
| Jordy Nelson, Oak. | 88 | 63 | 71.6% | 739 | 11.7 | 3 |
| Keenan Allen, LAC | 136 | 97 | 71.3% | 1196 | 12.3 | 6 |
| Alshon Jeffery, Phi. | 92 | 65 | 70.7% | 843 | 13.0 | 6 |
| DeAndre Hopkins, Hou. | 163 | 115 | 70.6% | 1572 | 13.7 | 11 |
| Tyler Boyd, Cin. | 108 | 76 | 70.4% | 1028 | 13.5 | 7 |
| Mohamed Sanu, Atl. | 94 | 66 | 70.2% | 838 | 12.7 | 4 |
| Amari Cooper, Oak.-Dall. | 107 | 75 | 70.1% | 1005 | 13.4 | 7 |
| Calvin Ridley, Atl. | 92 | 64 | 69.6% | 821 | 12.8 | 10 |
| Stefon Diggs, Minn. | 149 | 102 | 68.5% | 1021 | 10.0 | 9 |
| Julian Edelman, N.E. | 108 | 74 | 68.5% | 850 | 11.5 | 6 |
| Doug Baldwin, Sea. | 73 | 50 | 68.5% | 618 | 12.4 | 5 |
| Brandin Cooks, LAR | 117 | 80 | 68.4% | 1204 | 15.1 | 5 |
| D.J. Moore, Car. | 82 | 55 | 67.1% | 788 | 14.3 | 2 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pitt. | 166 | 111 | 66.9% | 1426 | 12.8 | 7 |
| Julio Jones, Atl. | 170 | 113 | 66.5% | 1677 | 14.8 | 8 |
| Demaryius Thomas, Den.-Hou. | 89 | 59 | 66.3% | 677 | 11.5 | 5 |
| Robert Woods, LAR | 130 | 86 | 66.2% | 1219 | 14.2 | 6 |
| Nelson Agholor, Phil. | 97 | 64 | 66.0% | 736 | 11.5 | 4 |
| Davante Adams, G.B. | 169 | 111 | 65.7% | 1386 | 12.5 | 13 |
| Golden Tate, Det.-Phi. | 113 | 74 | 65.5% | 795 | 10.7 | 4 |
| Dede Westbrook, Jac. | 101 | 66 | 65.3% | 717 | 10.9 | 5 |
| Willie Snead, Balt. | 95 | 62 | 65.3% | 651 | 10.5 | 1 |
| Tyreek Hill, K.C. | 137 | 87 | 63.5% | 1479 | 17.0 | 12 |
| T.Y. Hilton, Ind. | 120 | 76 | 63.3% | 1270 | 16.7 | 6 |
| Mike Evans, T.B. | 138 | 86 | 62.3% | 1524 | 17.7 | 8 |
| Odell Beckham, NYG | 124 | 77 | 62.1% | 1052 | 13.7 | 6 |
| Chris Godwin, T.B. | 95 | 59 | 62.1% | 842 | 14.3 | 7 |
| Antonio Brown, Pitt. | 168 | 104 | 61.9% | 1297 | 12.5 | 15 |
| Sterling Shepard, NYG | 107 | 66 | 61.7% | 872 | 13.2 | 4 |
| Larry Fitzgerald, Ariz. | 112 | 69 | 61.6% | 734 | 10.6 | 6 |
| Kenny Golladay, Det. | 119 | 70 | 58.8% | 1063 | 15.2 | 5 |
| Allen Robinson, Chi. | 94 | 55 | 58.5% | 754 | 13.7 | 4 |
| Corey Davis, Tenn. | 112 | 65 | 58.0% | 891 | 13.7 | 4 |
| Zay Jones, Buff. | 102 | 56 | 54.9% | 652 | 11.6 | 7 |
| Jarvis Landry, Clev. | 149 | 81 | 54.4% | 976 | 12.0 | 4 |
| Michael Crabtree, Balt. | 100 | 54 | 54.0% | 607 | 11.2 | 3 |
| Robby Anderson, NYJ | 94 | 50 | 53.2% | 752 | 15.0 | 6 |
Rosen's accuracy or lack thereof is probably the major concern. Note that a lot of the guys at the bottom of the list spent most of the season catching passes from rookie quarterbacks: Mayfield, Allen, Darnold, Rosen and Lamar Jackson.
But all of those guys also averaged a higher yards per catch than Fitzgerald (10.6); in some cases (Golladay, Anderson) about 5 yards higher. He had that low catch rate even while running shorter, high-percentage types of routes in Arizona's popgun offense.
Between the unproven quarterback and the reality that even the elite receivers don't move as well as they get up there in years, safe to say Fitzgerald won't be on any of my fantasy teams next season.
--Andy Richardson