Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald enters his 15th season in the NFL. However, it is his first with the team’s new coaching staff and it is only the third coaching change he has experienced since entering the league.
It has been a new adjustment for Fitzgerald and reminiscent of times when he was much younger.
“I feel like I’m in college again, but it’s fun,” he said to reporters after the team’s first practice of minicamp Tuesday. “Coach McCoy (offensive coordinator Mike McCoy) threw everything at us over the last two weeks. every single day we were installing 30, 40 new plays every single day for two straight weeks. It’s like mush in there.”
He has been studying a lot. He did so last weekend, Monday night, Tuesday morning and continues to be in the playbook.
He said there are plays that have the same terms as before, but they mean different things.
It is a different position for him to be in. In years past, he already knew the playbook and so young players could pick his brain.
This year? There is pressure to learn things quickly. “The young guys were asking me questions today,” he said. “I saw the playbook for the first time when they saw the playbook the first time.”
He did note they all help each other to “reaffirm” what they believe they already know.
It is early, but Fitzgerald seems to carry a little extra something as the Cardinals enter a new era with Steve Wilks as coach and Sam Bradford as quarterback.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.
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