Cardinals Rookies Get Special Larry Fitzgerald Surprise

The Arizona Cardinals' rookies were surprised with a special visit on the final day of mini-camp.

According to Cardinals team writer Darren Urban, Larry Fitzgerald made a guest cameo on Saturday and spoke with the group.

On the final day of #AZCardinals rookie minicamp, the new players get a visit from Larry Fitzgerald.https://t.co/UORMxWjCyu
— Darren Urban (@Cardschatter) May 9, 2026

"Larry Fitzgerald visited the rookies Saturday during their final workout of the weekend, giving a hug to first-round pick Jeremiyah Love -- I mean, Love is a Notre Dame guy, and that's where Larry's son Devin now plays -- and speaking to the group post-practice," said Urban.

"I'm not sure exactly the message Fitz delivered to these NFL newbies, but I know this, given what I have seen and heard covering the entirety of Fitz's career, work ethic and effort at practice was likely part of it. As great as Fitzgerald was in games, and he was, it was his effort and dedication at practice that got him there."

Fitzgerald was recently elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame earlier this year, and his resume needs no introduction as one of the greatest receivers to ever play the game.

"Oh yeah, Larry was dirty," Cardinals rookie receiver Reggie Virgil said earlier this week when asked if he watched Fitzgerald.

"He was cold, for sure. He's a great. Just seeing him, he did everything. Did everything right. The fundamentals and he made them seem just so much bigger. It's just those little details that he made look like he was doing something crazy originally. He was just doing the small things, the little things and they just take over."

The presence of Fitzgerald should hopefully help inspire and instill some greatness into Arizona's latest class of rookies, who began mini-camp this week and will join veterans next week for voluntary offseason activities.

"You just want to see what they can do in person," Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur told reporters of seeing the rookie class hit the field for the first time.

"You're watching these guys, particularly from a coaching standpoint, outside of maybe if you're at the combine, most people aren't going to pro days anymore, It's kind of the first time you've seen them live in person. The scouts, Monti [Ossenfort] obviously, they've seen some guys, they do their thing in the fall. So it's good. I mean there's a few guys out there that you're like, 'Oh, I didn't know that was part of their game.'

"Again, they're in T shirts and shorts, though, too, right? I mean, it's a way to just get them acclimated with what we're going to do schematically, what we're going to ask them to do physically so that they get ready in a week."

Add us as a preferred source on Google