Larry Fitzgerald isn't retired -- at least, he isn't saying he is.
But while recording his new Sirius XM show with Jim Gray called "Let's Go," he said on Friday he wasn't planning on playing right now either, and that he doesn't have the "urge" to don the uniform.
Gray asked Fitz straight out if he was going to be a radio broadcaster or if he was going to return to the field.
"For now I'll be a radio broadcaster," Fitzgerald said. "Jim, to be honest with you I just don't have the urge to play right now. I don't know how I'll feel in September, October, November moving forward but I just, today, I just don't have the urge. And I think I have to be respectful of that.
"Football is not one of those games you want to walk out there and play and not be fully engaged and ready to prepare and do the things necessary that you need to do."
Fitzgerald said this lack of desire to play is a "completely new thing."
"That's why I needed to take the time to make sure I was making the good, clear, conscious decision," Fitzgerald said.
It was always odd to think Fitzgerald was going to slip right back into the roster without being at camp. One of the things that made Fitzgerald great was his push to be great, and that included getting better at practice. He was never a player who was good with jumping on the field without doing the work to be prepared.
It's been suggested Fitzgerald might just want to miss camp, but Fitz laughed at the idea any player actually enjoys camp. Even then, "we all know (camp) is the building blocks and the foundation to a great season. That's where the camaraderie is built, that's where the relationships and trust is built."
The other part of this comment that catches the eye -- most players say that they knew it was time to retire when they just didn't have the drive to be engaged.
But again, Fitz kept the door open a crack by saying he doesn't know how he will feel in the upcoming months.
Winning a Super Bowl is something Fitzgerald wants to do, but he said it wouldn't be the only reason to come back and it can't be the main reason.
"The pursuit is the Lombardi Trophy, but you have to be in love with the process of pursuing the Lombardi Trophy," Fitzgerald said on the show, which also includes Tom Brady on SiriusXM's Mad Dog Sports Radio channel. "That's the part that's most important."
What, Gray asked, might trigger the urge to return?
"I have no idea," Fitzgerald said. "I've done this for thirty-plus years and every year I have gone into it, I've felt a certain way. I've felt the urge to go out and do it, and I just don't feel that right now.
"I don't know if it is going to change. But if it does, it does. If it doesn't, it doesn't. I'm not putting too much thought into it."
