Cardinals WR Duo Could Be Amongst The Top In 2014
By Earl Burnett
Dec 1, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Michael Floyd (15) celebrates his third quarter touchdown with Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald (11) during the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. The Philadelphia Eagles won the game 24-21. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports
The Arizona Cardinals wide receiving core for the 2014 season looks very promising, and can easily be one of the best in the league. But when it comes to the best duo combo in the NFL, who could challenging against the leagues best in Chicago with Marshall and Jeffery.
The closest duo in the league to get to that point is the Cardinals combination of Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd, as there are other greats awaiting that other weapon on the opposite side like Calvin Johnson, Dez Bryant, Andre Johnson, and a few others. The Cardinals duo has been in the works since the 2012 draft selection of star college receiver Michael Floyd, the piece that would come along to help Fitzgerald return to prominence.
Floyd is the center piece to this duo breaking out this season as he has been the talk of OTA’s and mini-camp by his quarterback and head coach. Floyd s off season praise gives an indication of what kind of force these two will be once both are equal threats.
The Notre Dame 13th over-all draft pick of 2012 is finally starting to get to what he was projected to be out of college by the experts, his season last year was a good indication that he is only going to get better putting up an eye opening second year with his first 1,000 yard season.
Quarterback Carson Palmer late last year begun to establish a good rapport with Floyd as his go to man while Fitzgerald was still drawing double teams, and his numbers began to increase and he finished with 65 receptions second to Fitzgerald 82 on the team.
2014 can very well be the year Michael Floyd becomes a household name in the NFL, and with all of the added weapons of speed on their offense look for Floyd’s numbers to increase and look something like this: 85 rec, 1100 yards, and 7 TD’s. Fitzgerald will look to get back close to the 100 ball club in receptions as he will not have as many double teams on the outside, and should be around 1,200 yards receiving with another double digit touchdown out-put with 12.
The humble receiver has along waited for a weapon opposite him that would take off some of the pressure and allow him to get one-on-one coverage every once in while. Keep in mind the great Fitzgerald has still put up decent numbers with double teams and below average signal callers, which is what makes him one of the leagues best.
This type of out-put from both players this year will look like the super numbers that the Bears duo put out last year Marshall with 100 and Jeffrey with 89 receptions, the Cards duo should be one of the leagues feared combinations and make their offense close to unstoppable.
The only question left to answer would be, How long will the two play together after this season?