Recent Super Bowl champion tried to sign Larry Fitzgerald in 2021

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers apparently tried to convince former Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald to return to the NFL in 2021.

Near the end of the 2021 season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were in serious need of some wide receiver help. So in an effort to add more pass-catchers, former Bucs head coach, and former Arizona Cardinals head coach, Bruce Arians decided to see if Larry Fitzgerald would be willing to help Tampa defend their Super Bowl title.

During an interview on Thursday with 98.7 FM’s “Wolf & Luke”, Arians admitted that he attempted to convince Fitzgerald to play for the Bucs last season.

"“When we lost our guys, especially when Chris Godwin got hurt, I called Fitz. He said, ‘Coach, I couldn’t run two plays right now, but thanks.’ I said, ‘I just had to check.'”"

Former Arizona Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald turned down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Obviously, Arians’ attempt to lure Fitzgerald back to the league was unsuccessful. The Bucs, of course, went on to lose in the divisional round of the playoffs to the eventual Super Bowl winners, the Los Angeles Rams.

If Arians and Tampa were able to convince Fitzgerald to suit up for their team, perhaps they could have gone on to become the first franchise to win the Super Bowl in back-to-back seasons since the New England Patriots did it in 2003 and 2004.

Fitzgerald is clearly enjoying his life off of the field right now. The former Cardinals wide receiver never officially retired after his last snap during the 2020 campaign, but he hasn’t really ever expressed any desire to return to the sport since then either.

With Fitzgerald turning down an opportunity to play for his former head coach and to become teammates with legendary quarterback Tom Brady, it’s safe to say that we’ve likely already seen the former Arizona receiver take his final snap on an NFL field.