Cardinals
Despite never officially retiring, former Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald has no regrets and sounds like he has no plans to ever return to the NFL. Despite falling just short of a Super Bowl ring, Fitzgerald will most likely wind up with a golden jacket and a bronze bust in Canton.
“I had a great run. It was fun. I wouldn’t change anything,” Fitzgerald said, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN. “I wish I could have delivered more for the Valley in terms of winning a championship, but that’s water under the bridge at this point.”
Fitzgerald is still avoiding saying that he has retired from football or anything in general.
“I’m 38 years old,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m a long way from retirement. Yeah, a long way. Unfortunately, most athletes, they’re told, ‘Your career is over.’ You don’t have much time to prepare. You don’t have anything set up outside of the game to really help bridge that gap, and that’s when you see guys struggle. You got to think, I played 17 years, I made a million connections, I was able to do everything that I ever wanted to do in terms of preparing to be able to make a smooth transition.”
Rams
Rams COO Kevin Demoff said that the team is in fact all-in and that the roster was constructed by GM Les Snead and HC Sean McVay to compete now, as evidenced by their recent Super Bowl win.
“I think the all-in narrative, it’s true,” he said, via SI’s Albert Breer. “I think we’re all-in every year, and I remember hearing in 2018 to 2019, we were all-in and our run was over. Our window was closed, and we missed the playoffs in 2019. But these five years what Sean [McVay] and Les [Snead] and this team have put together was pretty special. Les always jokes maybe this was the five-year plan.”
McVay’s ability to bring in strong personalities and get them to buy-in to the program was a key factor in the Rams’ ability to open up their championship window without the addition of premium draft capital.
“It is really hard to assemble a team, and you can’t do this without a leader and a culture that brings these people together,” Demoff said. “I think it’s not that people want this to fail, right, but it’s just a different model that’s really hard to replicate if you don’t have a Sean McVay, if you don’t have Los Angeles, you don’t have SoFi Stadium. And, you know I think Stan [Kroenke] has always challenged us, ‘I’ll give you everything you can to succeed. Go do it.’ We have so many unique opportunities by being here, by being in this stadium, for what Stan has built, for the resources he’s given to us. Maybe not everybody has that, but it proves that good people who can lead through tough times — and we went through it and we dealt with some adversity — find a way to be world champions in the end.”
Seahawks
Last offseason, Seahawks WR D.K. Metcalf competed in a USA Track and Field event, running the 100-yard dash in 10.37 seconds. That time was 15th out of 18th, but more respectable considering how the 6-3, 230-pound Metcalf hulks over the average sprinter. While it was considered a bit of a novelty, Metcalf says making the Olympics is one of his goals.
“I’m in a boot right now, so I can’t, I can’t do too much,” Metcalf said via Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks. “But next year, I’m gonna start back training for it every offseason, training for the 100-meter, or the 60-meter, whichever one I decide to do. And then in 2024, you’ll see me again.”
The automatic qualifying time in the 100-meter race is 10.05, so Metcalf has work to do to qualify for the Games in 2024. He maintains it’s a legitimate goal, however.
“No, I’m not – no, I’m not just running just to run,” he said. “I can do that on a track somewhere. I’m trying to, I’m trying to go to the Olympics.”
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