Larry Fitzgerald deserves better than what the Cardinals are giving him

Larry Fitzgerald is in his 14th season as an NFL player. Unless something drastically changes in Arizona, 2017 will mark the 10th year he misses the postseason.

At age 34, the 10-time Pro Bowler remains one of the league’s most dangerous wideouts, even if he’s no longer the explosive deep threat who could roast cornerbacks with his straight-line speed. The second act of Fitzgerald’s career has focused on his transition from athletic wonder to cerebral wideout, combining the unbelievable hands and precise route running that defined his early NFL career with the knowledge built up over an NFL career approaching its quinceañera.

On Monday night, he proved he remains one of the game’s most valuable receivers. His efforts on an Arizona lineup devoid of offensive threats nearly sparked a Cardinal upset of the Cowboys. His incredible stat line — 13 catches, 149 yards, and one touchdown — fails to capture his total impact on the game. With his team trailing by seven points in the fourth quarter, he pulled off a superhuman adjustment that not only erased a Dallas interception, but converted a desperately needed third-and-18.

But without David Johnson to take some of the weight from his shoulders, Fitzgerald’s efforts weren’t enough. The veteran wideout accounted for nearly 45 percent of his team’s total offense in a losing effort that dropped Arizona to 1-2 on the season.

The Cardinals’ only win this season came against a bad Colts team with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback. We’re only three weeks into the regular season, but the club’s playoff chances look bleak.

An uneventful January is a familiar narrative in Fitzgerald’s career. For 13 years he’s toiled, often emerging as a lone ship navigating a traditionally futile franchise’s sea of failure. He’s averaged one playoff victory for every 2.6 years in the league, seeing only one Super Bowl in a storied career where his efforts haven’t been enough to raise the profile of an NFL also-ran.

It’s not an especially uncommon story for the NFL’s long-tenured, game-changing wideouts. Steve Smith, the man Fitzgerald is about to pass on the all-time receiving yards list, had a playoff win every 2.67 years. Same for Isaac Bruce. Terrell Owens played 15 seasons with only four playoff victories under his belt. Only players like Randy Moss and Jerry Rice have been able to combine prolific receiving careers with extended postseason success.

But players like Bruce, Marvin Harrison, and Reggie Wayne all had the opportunity to lift the Lombardi Trophy after pairing up with Hall of Fame (current or future) quarterbacks. Of the nine wide receivers in the NFL’s top 10 all-time yardage leaders, five have Super Bowl rings, a product of playing with passers like Joe Montana, Steve Young, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Kurt Warner.

Now, late-career Carson Palmer will have to do what late-career Warner did to get Fitzgerald back to the doorstep of an NFL title. That seems unlikely.

The 38-year-old passer is currently completing a career-low 56 percent of his passes and has thrown as many interceptions as touchdowns through three games. Some of those struggles can be attributed to a disappointing running game (a meager 2.8 yards per carry this fall after David Johnson’s wrist injury) and a lack of offensive targets behind Fitzgerald (the team’s No. 3 wideout, Jaron Brown, has averaged just 33 yards per game).

Even so, the flashes of brilliance that defined his early career and late resurgence in Arizona have begun to drift farther and farther apart. Palmer’s accuracy is waning, and some of the throws he used to be able to thread through tight windows now crash into defenders’ hands. While he’s fewer than two years removed from the best season of his life, Palmer appears to be leaning hard into the downslope of his career.

That’s sad news for Fitzgerald — especially since a diminished Palmer is still one of the better passers he’s ever had the chance to play with.

There’s still time for Arizona to turn its 2017 around. The NFC West may be the league’s weakest division, with the Seahawks looking more vulnerable than ever and the Rams and 49ers still unsteady in their rebuilds. Nine wins could be all it takes to sneak into the playoffs — or even eight. With Johnson able to return for a December playoff push, there’s still a chance for the franchise to do right by its greatest-ever player.

But even with a return from Johnson and a resurgence from Palmer, Fitzgerald seems destined to end his 14th season the way his last 13 did — without a Super Bowl ring.