Cards’ Kirk follows in Fitz’s footsteps
Christian Kirk has talked about how badly he wants to be the one who carries the torch for the Cardinals whenever it is that Larry Fitzgerald decides to walk away from the game.
During Sunday’s game against the Buccaneers, the second-year wide receiver did something that Larry Legend has never done in 16 NFL seasons.
It was so consequential, in fact, that only two other Cardinals wide receivers had ever equaled the feat dating all the way back to at least the NFL merger in 1970.
In Arizona’s 30-27 loss at Raymond James Stadium, Kirk joined Anquan Boldin (2008) and Roy Green (1983, 1989) as just the third player in franchise history during that span to finish with 130 or more yards receiving and three touchdowns in one game.
With six receptions for 138 yards and touchdown catches of 15, 33 and 69 yards, it was Kirk’s biggest performance yet in what he expects to be a career marked full of them.
After all, if you want to try an emulate a future Hall of Famer like Fitzgerald, you have to be recognized as a legitimate star in the NFL.
“I don’t play this game to be average,” Kirk said afterward. “I plan to, every game that I step onto the field, keep trying to prove that I can be (a superstar).”
Despite missing seven games since being drafted in the second round out of Texas A&M via Scottsdale Saguaro High School, Kirk has 83 career receptions for 1,057 yards and six touchdowns.
His 83 catches are the third-most in Cardinals’ history for a player in his first 19 NFL games. Only Boldin (115 from 2003-04) and Sonny Randle (87 from 1959-61) had more.
It’s those kinds of numbers and other areas of his game that make Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury firmly believe Kirk can ascend to the level he wishes to aspire.
“I believe so,” Kingsbury said when asked if the 5-foot-11 Kirk has what it takes to be a longtime No.1 wide receiver. “He’s not the biggest guy, but you look at an Antonio Brown, Steve Smith, guys like that, he just has that type of juice. I’m not saying he’s going to get to where they’re at, but he has that type of ability in my opinion to go inside, outside, and to be a mismatch wherever he goes.”
To get there — and stay there — Kirk just has to “keep working,” according to Kingsbury. But that’s not all it will take, the coach added. A franchise-type wide receiver is usually always tied to the success of a franchise-type quarterback. As rookie quarterback Kyler Murray goes, so, more than likely, will go Kirk.
“I think consistency at the quarterback position always helps,” Kingsbury said. “You look at those great ones, they always had a guy in place for a long time where you build that rapport, you build that trust and you’re their guy. So, I think there’s a lot of factors that play into it.”
Murray and Kirk were college teammates at Texas A&M in 2015 and twice connected for touchdowns that season. So far, they’ve only hooked up three times — all of them coming Sunday in Tampa — but Murray knows the possibilities can be endless if both players grow together and hope to establish the type of chemistry Joe Montana had with Jerry Rice, Peyton Manning had with Marvin Harrison or Troy Aikman had with Michael Irvin.
Even half of that kind of connection could be pretty special.
“When you’ve got talent like he does, you want to give him the ball as much as possible and he wants the ball as much as possible,” Murray said. “He’s a team player and a guy who wants to win, but at the same time, it helps the team out tremendously when has the ball because he’s such a dynamic player.
“Whenever he touches the ball, most likely something good is going to happen with it. … God blessed him with athleticism not many people have. He’s fast, he can run routes, he can catch the ball, he’s smart. He’s a great football player.”
With Kirk leading the way among a young core of receivers that also includes Trent Sherfield and rookies KeeSean Johnson, Andy Isabella and Hakeem Butler, Murray can see longterm familiarity and success. It’s a budding confidence, Murray said, adding, “We’re all young, so we feel like we can build this thing together and for years to come we should be good.”
That’s a luxury Fitzgerald never has really had.
His longest stretch of working with the same starting quarterback in Arizona were a pair of five-year runs with Kurt Warner and Carson Palmer.
In between and before and since, Fitzgerald has caught passes from 21 different quarterbacks altogether and yet still has managed to move into second place on the NFL’s all-time list behind Jerry Rice in career receptions and receiving yards.