Arizona Cardinals legend Larry Fitzgerald on Monday was named to Sports Illustrated’s All-Quarter-Century First Team, recognizing and affirming his place as one of the greatest NFL wide receivers of the 21st century.
Despite Fitzgerald’s storied career and prominent career statistics, Fitzgerald was previously snubbed from ESPN’s all-quarter-century team back in June.
With the 2025 NFL season on the horizon, Sports Illustrated’s NFL writers and editors came together to build their all-quarter-century teams with the best players at each position from the last 25 years.
Sports Illustrated’s six voters adhered to some ground rules prior to casting their votes such as being asked to consider player accomplishments over the last 25 years rather than pure longevity.
Additionally, the first, second and third quarter-century teams have 11 players on offense and defense. Players received three points for a first-place vote, two for a second-place vote and one for a third-place vote.
The three teams also include fullbacks and specialists, which brought the list of selected players to 84 in total.
Where did Fitzgerald rank on the all-quarter-century team?
Fitzgerald landed on the first team alongside receiver royalty in Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson. Fitzgerald and Moss both earned 17 points from votes with Johnson following behind with 15 points.
The MMQB staff wrote:
Wide receiver was the most crowded ballot, with plenty of roster spaces available and 14 different players receiving votes. The top three who made our first team separated themselves pretty cleanly. Larry Fitzgerald had 356 more receptions since 2000 than the next closest receiver (Boldin) and led the No. 2 receiver (Smith) by more than 2,500 yards.
Fitzgerald, a lifelong Cardinal for 17 seasons (2004-2020), holds the record for most games played with the franchise (263) and most receiving yards since 2000. Fitzgerald (17,492) is just second to Jerry Rice who has the most receiving yards in the NFL at 22,895.
In addition to his receiving yards, Fitzgerald amassed 1,432 receptions and 121 touchdowns. His monster numbers helped earn him 11 Pro-Bowl nods, a First-Team All-Pro selection (2008) and a spot on the NFL’s 2010 All-Decade Team.
Fitzgerald also helped lead the Cardinals to their first and only Super Bowl appearance (XLIII) where they lost in a heartbreaking fashion to the Pittsburgh Steelers behind a last-minute touchdown to Santonio Holmes.
The game was ranked as the 12th greatest Super Bowl ever on NFL.com.
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Although Fitzgerald solidified himself as the joint leading vote-getter amongst receivers in the Sports Illustrated list, he was notably snubbed from ESPN’s NFL all-quarter-century team.
ESPN listed Moss, Johnson, Julio Jones, Terrell Owens, Marvin Harrison Sr. and Justin Jefferson as their six best receivers since 2000.
Fitzgerald wasn’t even listed as one of ESPN’s honorable mentions for the wide receiver position, losing out to Antonio Brown and Andre Johnson.
Fitzgerald’s omission from ESPN’s list is certainly questionable considering he has more receiving yards than all those on the list, but nonetheless, Fitzgerald’s lauded stats and accolades have established himself among the league’s best pass catchers to ever play the game.
Although Fitzgerald’s playing days are over, his son Devin is carrying on the family legacy, recently committing to playing football at Notre Dame.
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