Larry Fitzgerald didn’t talk to D.J. Humphries for entire rookie year
Arizona Cardinals left tackle D.J. Humphries is now a leader on the team but it wasn’t always the case. As a rookie, he earned the nickname “Knee Deep” from head coach Bruce Arians, something Humphries was not a fan of.
He did not dress his entire rookie season and, apparently, legendary receiver Larry Fitzgerald completely ignored him.
That changed in 2016, Humphries’ second year, and since then, they have “built a good relationship over the years.”
Humphries told a story about how things started between him and Fitz on the Free Breakfast podcast, and it sort of set Humphries straight.
He recalled a random morning in his second season when he was getting breakfast.
“Larry didn’t talk to me my whole rookie year,” Humphries explained. “He said he was mad at me. He was like, ‘I was mad at you. You were a first rounder. We’re first rounders. We’ve got a responsibility when we come here and you let me down.'”
Humphries was taken aback.
“He told me to my face like that in my second year,” he said.
Fitzgerald let Humphries know there were expectations for him.
“‘We’re depending on you now,'” Humphries recalled Fitz telling him. “‘You let me down last year. I was mad at you.'”
It changed Humphries’ perspective. In his mind, he realized, “they’re really depending on me right here.” All he could say to Fitzgerald was, “OK, my bad, Larry.”
That year, he was the starting right tackle and moved to left tackle late in the season. He would not make it through the that year or the next two seasons healthy.
However, since then, he has played in 32 straight games, gotten a big contract extension and was a team captain last year.
Part of that is thanks to Fitzgerald’s leadership.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
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