What can truly be said about the man who brought a sense of pride to the Arizona Cardinals’ organization — without an ounce of it in his own body? Where words fail, a gold jacket says everything.

On Thursday night, the legendary Larry Fitzgerald was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first ballot, five years following the unceremonious end of his playing days. In a era in which Hall of Fame discourse has become diluted by interpersonal politics and narrative-driven selections, Cardinals fans were subjected to an undue amount of suspense awaiting the selection committee’s decision.

But they made the right one.

Larry Fitzgerald Selected To Hall of Fame

Fitzgerald became just the eighth wide receiver in NFL history to be awarded a first-ballot induction. He’s only the fourth such example in the 2000s, alongside Jerry Rice (2010), Randy Moss (2018) and Calvin Johnson (2021).

Fitzgerald comes in second to only the first illustrious name on that list in career receptions (1,432) and receiving yards (17,492). His 121 touchdowns are the sixth-most by a wideout in NFL history. He owns the best cumulative single-season performance in playoff history, with 546 yards and seven touchdowns over four games in Arizona’s 2008 Super Bowl run.

From Fitzgerald’s 2005 sophomore season through the 2011 season, he amassed six 1,000-yard campaigns, only missing seven straight by 64 yards when he missed three games in 2006. Of those six seasons, three times did he surpass 1,400 yards. He also caught at least one pass in 256 straight games — a streak only broken by his retirement. And, of course, Fitzgerald recorded more career tackles (41) than drops (35) — a stat frequent internet-dwellers have likely seen ad nauseam.

Numbers are beautiful. They are the necessary infrastructure of sports legends. But to boil Fitzgerald’s career down to the near-superhuman statistics would still manage to be a disservice to what he stood for, to a franchise that has seen so little tangible success.

Despite playing for a team that managed just five above-.500 seasons for the entirety of his 17-year career, Fitzgerald never requested a trade. He never voiced frustration, and he never made the game about himself — despite having nearly every reason to do so. He outwardly celebrated a positive play only one single time — and apologized for it immediately after. He won the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2016.

Fitzgerald caught a pass from 22 different Cardinals quarterbacks. Of those 22, only three stand out: Kurt Warner, Carson Palmer and Kyler Murray. Fitzgerald played just 127 of his 263 career games with those passers, spending the rest with names that will fade into the obscurity of trivia questions and assistant coaching roles.

It never mattered. Fitzgerald simply went out and dominated, ripping ill-placed passes out of the hands of defensive backs, turning double coverage into a practice rep, and delivering two of the greatest plays in Arizona sports history in two of the Cardinals’ biggest playoff games.

For many, watching Fitzgerald play each week defined what it meant to be a Cardinals fan. He defined what it meant to be a member of a franchise that has existed since 1920. He allowed fans to take pride in their NFL allegiance, while playing without a trace of his own. He played not for personal glory, but for the love of the game and a respect for the others who played it around him. It was obvious, week-in and week-out.

Despite growing up a Minnesota kid, Fitzgerald chose to invest in the Valley. He embraced Arizona as his home, raised his family in Phoenix and willfully remains a leader-figure in a long-suffering sports city. No matter how few banners or sports heroes Arizona may boast, there is always one player to which fans can point.

“[Arizona is] home for me,” Fitzgerald told 12 News’ Cameron Cox. “For somebody to be able to stay in one place for that long, it’s not always the player’s choice… They could’ve said, ‘Hey, we can move on.’ I told [owner Michael Bidwill] how much I appreciated him just believing in me, even when my skills started diminishing.”

“Obviously, the community of Arizona, what they’ve done in terms of pouring into me… It’s been an unbelievable journey, and one that I’m just so, so thankful for.”

It remains one of the NFL’s most painful grievances that Fitzgerald cannot hang his gold jacket next to the Super Bowl ring he so deserved. But to Cardinals fans, he remains a legend — a shining star in the blackness of a century-long tragic tale.

Class of 2027 combo guard Isaac Ellis has been named MVP of the Overtime Elite (OTE) league.

The 6-foot-1, three-star Louisville commit is currently averaging 29.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 8.9 assists, and 1.9 steals per game. He plays for Moravian Prep (NC), competing under the YNG Dreamerz name in the OTE league.

Ellis is the younger brother of South Carolina freshman guard Eli Ellis, who won the OTE MVP award in each of the previous two seasons. Isaac was originally committed to South Carolina before ultimately landing at Louisville.

According to the Rivals Industry Rankings, Ellis is ranked No. 193 nationally in the 2027 class. He also checks in as the No. 6 combo guard and the No. 8 overall prospect in North Carolina.

Off the floor, Ellis has built a massive social media presence, with more than one million followers on TikTok and over 400,000 on Instagram.

More on Ellis

Rivals National Recruiting Analyst Jamie Shaw has evaluated Isaac Ellis on multiple occasions. He most recently saw him at the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach on New Year’s Eve and had this to say about his game:

It was the championship game of the Beach Ball Classic Prep Division and Moravian (NC) Prep went down 20-6 to start the game. Down at the half, they scratched and clawed their way back into the game. It was Louisville commit Isaac Ellis who set the tone. The 6-foot-1 point guard played with a calming nature, getting his team back into it by taking care of possessions and giving all out effort on the defensive end. There will be questions, but there will no doubting his competitive fire and his ability to lead. Ellis earned MVP of the Prep Division after finishing the title game with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals.

Additional information on OTE

OTE is a premier high school basketball league based in Atlanta. Its recent alumni include more than 50 current college players, like St. John’s Ian Jackson, Kansas’ Bryson Tiller, Kentucky’s Jasper Johnson, and Arkansas’ Meleek Thomas and Karter Knox, among others.

OTE has also produced notable NBA talent, including twins Amen and Ausar Thompson, along with Dom Barlow, Alex Sarr, and Rob Dillingham.

Excitement, joy, relief, disappointment, or perhaps a concoction of all four. Whatever emotions may be flowing through the Valley, one thing is certain: the Arizona Cardinals — finally — have a head coach.

According to numerous reports, the Cardinals have agreed to a five-year deal with Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, who supported Sean McVay in engineering the NFL’s No. 1 scoring offense in 2025. The news broke almost immediately following the hiring of Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak by the Las Vegas Raiders, who Arizona also pursued heavily.

The Cardinals are now the final team in this coaching cycle to make a hire — 27 days following the dismissal of Jonathan Gannon. LaFleur will become the 44th head coach in the franchise’s long history, and the 11th since the team moved to Arizona.

“We had the opportunity to speak with an outstanding group of candidates during this very thorough process and gathered tremendous insight from each of them,” Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill said. “At the end of that process, it was clear that Mike LaFleur possesses all the traits necessary to lead this team to success as its head coach. He is highly intelligent with an exceptionally sharp, creative football mind. Mike is also a dynamic and innovative leader and exactly the type of person we were looking for to guide our team as its head coach.”

Arizona Cardinals Hire Mike LaFleur

LaFleur is the brother of Matt LaFleur, a perennial playoff head coach in Green Bay. He’s also spent nearly the entirety of his career alongside some of the NFL’s most elite offensive minds in McVay and Kyle Shanahan. An unsuccessful face-value stint calling plays for the New York Jets hardly tells his entire story.

Not only is LaFleur familiar with the high-intensity NFC West, the 38-year-old offensive mind is already a veteran of 12 NFL seasons, and began his career under Shanahan, with stops in Cleveland, Atlanta and San Francisco along the way.

“In his career, Mike has been around some of the best and brightest coaches in football and has been a key contributor to highly successful teams,” Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort said.

“He understands what winning football looks like and what it takes to achieve it. Mike is a strong communicator with a detail-oriented teaching style that has always gotten the best from his players and we are incredibly excited for him to bring that to the Cardinals.”

Following his 2019-2020 season with the 49ers, LaFleur joined fellow Cardinals coaching target Robert Saleh’s staff in New York, calling offensive plays for the first time. An argument could be made as to the ineffectiveness of that tenure in terms of overall wins and losses, but those records do not tell the whole story.

Prior to LaFleur’s arrival in New York, the Jets’ offense was rudderless — though ironically with a now-NFC Championship-winning QB in Sam Darnold under center. That passing attack did not improve once turned over to Zach Wilson, but LaFleur was still able to engineer some positive improvements. New York’s offensive PFF grades spiked immediately, including a pass-blocking jump from 53.4 to 64.4. Their rushing grade improved from 75.2 to 82.1, and their run-blocking grade saw a near-10-point increase to 74.1. While the Jets did not field the highest volume of impact talent, the fundamental cornerstones improved notably under LaFleur.

And when LaFleur departed New York between the 2022 and 2023 seasons, the Jets’ offense began to spiral once again. Their total offensive EPA/play dropped from -0.09 to -0.26, while the passing attack took the largest dive from -0.11 to -0.30 — despite trotting out a similar group of skill players and the same QB.

In terms of scheme, LaFleur will bring a fresh look to Arizona’s offense. Offensive playmakers will be emphasized. LaFleur is no stranger to the 12 and 13 personnel looks, but that will no longer be the primary set for the Cardinals’ offense. A more even balance between run and pass and an ability to spread the field without relying on an air-raid-like system could be a welcome sight to Cardinals fans who have endured the heavy-set, run-first scheme of the previous staff.

Questions remain about the Cardinals’ quarterback situation, with Kyler Murray seemingly poised to head out of Phoenix this offseason. Beyond that, there is talent for LaFleur to work with: an All-Pro tight end in Trey McBride, a 1,000-yard wideout in Michael Wilson, and the former No. 4 overall pick in Marvin Harrison Jr.

Meanwhile, the ensuing makeup of Arizona’s coaching staff is still undefined for now. Defensive coordinator Nick Rallis is the only prominent coach from Gannon’s staff still under contract. Just who LaFleur might bring in to round out his staff remains unknown, but he has no shortage of connections after working alongside the NFC West’s elite for so many seasons.

“I couldn’t be more fired up to become the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals and am beyond grateful to Michael (Bidwill) and Monti (Ossenfort) for this opportunity,” LaFleur said. “Having competed against them in the NFC so many times in recent years, I know the type of talent and toughness the team has and cannot wait to get to Arizona to hit the ground running.”

A new era of Cardinals football has arrived.