Arizona owner Bidwill: 'I wanted Larry Fitzgerald to retire a Cardinal'
After toiling in mediocrity for the better part of the 21st century, the Arizona Cardinals are two wins away from their first Super Bowl victory in franchise history.
Arizona led the league in total offense and finished second in scoring offense with 30.6 points per game. Under head coach Bruce Arians' tutelage, the Cardinals are arguably the most well-rounded of the four teams remaining in the postseason.
Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill discussed hiring Arians and retaining standout wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald in an interview with The MMQB's Jenny Vrentas.
"Bruce was on a lot of successful teams, so I think that was a contributing factor," Bidwill said of hiring Arians. "I also think Bruce had a little bit of a reputation as a guy that said what he felt was important to say, speaking the truth. That was something that I embraced, and that might be something that some people shied away from him for. But from my standpoint, I just thought he was going to be the perfect fit. And he's come in and done what I thought he would do, which was get us to a point to where we are one of the best teams in the NFL."
Fitzgerald's been the face of the Cardinals franchise since being drafted third overall in 2004. The 32-year-old remained loyal to the club even in its darkest days, and Bidwill explained how he managed to keep the nine-time Pro Bowler on board last offseason.
"We had dinner at my house; I invited him over. We had dinner for probably two-and-a-half hours, and of that time, we only spent about five minutes talking about his desire to continue to play for us and to get it done. And I said great, because I wanted to see him retire a Cardinal. So we worked out the details; Steve and his agent worked out the details of his contract. He's practically part of the family, and he's an important member of our community and our team and I couldn't think of any place other than here where he should play. I was glad to see he shared the same opinion."
After hiring one of the league's preeminent coaches and retaining a surefire Hall of Famer, Bidwell surely hopes the Cardinals are about to reach the NFL's pinnacle.