Fitzgerald on 2017 return: 'The fire was burning' while watching playoffs

Watching the playoffs from his couch was all Larry Fitzgerald needed to know he wasn't ready to walk away.

Opening up about the decision to put off retirement and return for a 14th season, the Arizona Cardinals wide receiver told Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic that he still found himself invested while tuning in for a divisional-round thriller between the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys.

"The fire was burning," Fitzgerald explained Thursday. "If I was completely detached from it, I wouldn't have cared. It wouldn't have meant anything for me."

A frustrating season saw the Cardinals miss out on the playoffs for the first time since 2013. Knowing the team is far more talented than it may have shown, Fitzgerald still has his sights set on competing for a title.

"I'm a year removed from being in a game like this, that's competitive," he added. "I got David Johnson. I got Patrick Peterson. I got Tyrann Mathieu, Chandler Jones. All these super-talented guys coming back on this team. I can't go out on 7-8-1. That's not how I want to do it. With the combination of those, and my body feeling much, much better now, is probably what made me feel the way I do."

While the other side of 30 is rarely kind to skill position players, a smooth transition to the slot has allowed Fitzgerald to enjoy a particularly high level of production over each of the last two years.

After another 107 receptions for 1,023 yards and six touchdowns earned him the 10th Pro Bowl nod of his career, the franchise legend is certainly in line to maintain a major role in 2017.

As for any looming concern over when he'll eventually hang up his cleats, Fitzgerald said he's 100 percent focused on his craft until that time comes.

"I would be lying to you if I said retirement is not something I've thought about for the last few years," he said. "But that hasn’t affected me on the field at all, and I wouldn't allow it to."

- With h/t to Pro Football Talk