Arizona Cardinals - Fantasy News

Larry Fitzgerald 2017 Fantasy Projections

by Tom Joyce

8/13/17

NFL

Arizona Cardinals

Larry Fitzgerald

Larry Fitzgerald is a 10-time Pro Bowler and one of the greatest wide receivers of all-time. He has spent his entire career (since 2004) with the Arizona Cardinals and has been the team’s No. 1 target in the passing game for most of his tenure.

Despite being near the tail end of his career, he is still a talented and productive performer each and every Sunday. He was a Pro Bowl selection in each of the past two seasons, but a few changes to the Cardinals offense could impact his touches in 2017.

Why Larry Fitzgerald Will Be A 2017 Fantasy Football Stud

Over the past couple of years, Fitzgerald has been one of the most dependable wide receivers in the game. He is coming off of back-to-back campaigns in which he had at least 1,000 receiving yards. Last year, he made 107 receptions for 1,023 yards and six touchdowns, which averaged out to 12.75 Dober Fantasy Points per contest.

Despite being an aging player, Fitzgerald still has a high catch rate. He grabbed 71.3 percent of the footballs that came his way in 2016. In contrast, quarterback Carson Palmer completed just 61 percent of his throws. The former Cincinnati Bengals signal caller obviously had a lot of success throwing to Fitzgerald but not necessarily with his other options.

The veteran Fitzgerald has been incredibly healthy over the course of his NFL career, missing just six games in 13 seasons. Perhaps most notable is the fact that he has played in every single game over the last two years despite being one of the league’s oldest players.

Why Larry Fitzgerald Will Be A 2017 Fantasy Football Bust

The Cardinals return many of their key offensive pieces, including Palmer, star running back David Johnson, tight end Jermaine Gresham, Fitzgerald as well as fellow receivers JJ Nelson and John Brown. But the team added playmakers on the offensive side of the ball as well.

In the third round of this year’s NFL Draft, Arizona picked up wide receiver Chad Williams, who made 90 catches for 1,337 yards and 11 touchdowns at Grambling State despite missing a game. Williams has a chance to be one of the team’s more dependable wide receivers even as a rookie, which could take some targets away from Fitzgerald.

Johnson could also cut into Fitzgerald’s opportunities. He is an early MVP candidate who ran for 1,239 yards and had 879 more as a pass-catcher, combining for 20 touchdowns last year. Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians said the plan in 2017 is to get the ball to Johnson about 30 times per game, which would be 480 touches on the year—that’s an incredibly high number.

Last year, Johnson touched the ball on 373 downs, so he could be in line for six to seven more touches per game this season. Other Cardinal playmakers would be impacted by this change in offensive philosophy.

Fitzgerald will be 34 years old by the time the season starts, so it is natural to expect some regression based off of his age as well. He isn’t exactly the safest bet each Sunday despite having success the last few years as one of the game’s oldest receivers.