There aren’t many former Arizona Cardinals more popular than Larry Fitzgerald, so it’s noteworthy that he’s all aboard the campaign to bring Sean Payton to the desert. Fitzgerald has busied himself in his post-playing career as an investor and media personality, buying a minority ownership stake in the Phoenix Suns and joining ESPN’s Monday night Countdown pregame show, and he recently appeared on Arizona Sports Bickley and Marotta radio show to stump for Payton as the new head coach of the Cardinals.
“To me, it’s really a no-brainer,” Fitzgerald began, “If you really want to build the foundation for success for a very long time, Sean Payton has done that for quite awhile in New Orleans and years before then. He’s a franchise-changing aspect. He’s going to be expensive, you have to give compensation up to the New Orleans Saints, but if you’re trying to change the conversation, he’s a guy that has the ability to do that.”
Fitzgerald pointed to the work Payton did in reviving Drew Brees’ career and in developing talented players throughout his years in New Orleans, especially in finding diamonds in the rough: “Guys that you haven’t heard of from smaller schools, being able to develop them, develop coaches. He checks a lot of boxes when you’re talking about somebody who can change the fortunes of an organization.”
That’s quite an endorsement. We’ll find out soon whether Cardinals ownership agrees — Payton said Sunday that he expects to know more from each of the teams he’s met with “in the next week” during an appearance on the FOX Sports NFL Sunday pregame show. Let’s see if he gets the news he (and Fitzgerald) may be hoping for.