In the National Football League, no on the field partnership is more valued than the quarterback and the wide receiver relationship. Their jobs forced them to rely on each other, especially on the side of the receiver. We’ve seen examples with quarterbacks putting up bulky numbers without star wide outs, while the receiver is forced to trust his quarterback, no matter the quality of his performance. Would Jerry Rice be the greatest receiver of all time without Steve Young and Joe Montana slinging the pigskin? Are his numbers just a product of his QB’s greatness? This football theory would become football law, if it wasn’t for an outlier named Larry Darnell Fitzgerald Jr.
Fitzgerald has established himself as one of the best receivers in the league today, despite the fact he hasn’t had one of the best quarterbacks in the league since Kurt Warner’s retirement following the 2009 season. While Andre and Calvin Johnson had put up equal, if not greater, numbers during this same period, their numbers come from a connection between elite quarterback. While Fitzgerald has put up numbers with quarterbacks that have not been good, or relevant since their high school days. To say that Fitzgerald has been given a bad hand would be an insult to any poor soul who lost their car, house, and wife from steep gambling debts. And through it all, he has ignore the examples of past diva receivers, like Randy Moss, and chooses not to publicly lambaste his wannabe NFL quarterbacks, while showing a great deal of patience, and class that inspires many individuals, like myself, that the days of the boisterous wide receivers are over. The 2013 season is coming, and with a honest QB like Carson Palmer, the days of Larry Fitzgerald being the best Wide Receiver is creeping over the Arizona desert.
