With the season less than a month away, Larry Fitzgerald remains unsigned. And the future Hall of Fame wide receiver does not sound like he will join a team in the near future.

Although the 17-year veteran said his plans could change, he is content to keep his options open for the time being. For the time being, Fitzgerald has announced plans to host a Sirius XM radio show alongside Tom Brady and Jim Gray. This certainly stands to keep fans in the loop regarding the future Hall of Famer’s plans.

“For now, I’ll be a radio broadcaster. Jim, to be honest with you, I just don’t have the urge to play right now,” Fitzgerald said during an interview with Gray on Sirius XM (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Kevin Patra). “I just don’t know how I’ll feel in September, October, November moving forward, but I just, today, I just don’t have the urge.”

The Cardinals did not close the door on Fitz coming back but made multiple moves at wide receiver that would affect his return. Arizona signed A.J. Green and drafted Rondale Moore in the second round. They joined DeAndre Hopkins and Christian Kirk on the Cards’ roster. As recently as July, Fitz said he had not made up his mind on returning. His most recent comments, however, mark the clearest sign yet retirement may be close.

Fitzgerald, who will turn 38 later this month, has taken a year-to-year approach with his career since 2016. But the latest he previously decided on returning was late January (in 2019). The NFL’s second all-time leading pass catcher has said in the past he only wanted to play for the Cardinals, but if no clear role exists for him in Arizona, the 11-time Pro Bowler might need to adjust that stance — if he is to reconsider playing again.

An injury affecting the Cards’ or perhaps another contending team’s receiving corps would naturally invite speculation about a Fitz return, but he is coming off the worst statistical season of his career. Fitz caught 54 passes for just 409 yards and one touchdown in 2020, a season in which he missed two games after contracting COVID-19.

Fitzgerald’s 1,432 receptions and 17,492 receiving yards are second only to Jerry Rice all time. No active wideout is within 500 receptions or 4,000 yards of his respective career totals. The decorated wideout will cruise to Canton, but until he announces his retirement, the prospect of him suiting up either in Arizona or with another team via in-season signing will be one of this year’s subplots.

With the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals, the national media has descended upon the Cardinals’ home turf. The franchise’s most famous Arizona-era player made himself available for a status update Friday but offered little on this front.

During an interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols (via Pro Football Talk), Larry Fitzgerald said he has not made a decision on retiring or playing an 18th NFL season. He has been a free agent since March.

“I haven’t decided anything,” Fitzgerald said. “Training camp starts in a few weeks. I’m excited. It’s going to be another great year for the NFL.”

The future Hall of Fame wide receiver’s phrasing here is interesting, but he has yet to publicly commit either way. At the American Century Classic celebrity golf tournament Saturday, Fitzgerald added that he has stayed in shape for a possible return (h/t Ben Volin of the Boston Globe). So the door still appears to be open here.

The Cardinals may have made Fitz’s decision — at least regarding a return to the team — for him. With Fitz undecided in March and April, the Cards signed A.J. Green and drafted Rondale Moore in the second round. They will team with DeAndre Hopkins and Christian Kirk.

Fitzgerald has taken a year-to-year approach with his career since 2016, but the latest he previously decided on returning was late January (in 2019). Going into mid-July with the same uncertain stance he had in February is not a great sign for the soon-to-be 38-year-old star’s prospects of playing in 2021. In each season since 2016, Fitzgerald has made $11MM in salary. His numbers from 2020 — 54 catches, 409 yards, one touchdown reception — and the juncture of the calendar would require him to sign for substantially less.

Although Fitzgerald has said in the past he would only play for the Cardinals, it will be interesting to see if he would entertain a return elsewhere — potentially if a contender loses a key target in training camp — now that the Cards added multiple key receiver reinforcements. Jerry Rice and fellow Hall of Famer Charlie Joiner are the only wideouts to play at least 18 seasons. Joiner played 18; Rice played 20.

The expectation around the league in April pointed to Fitz retiring, and while that would make sense, the NFL’s second-leading all-time pass catcher continues to keep fans in suspense about his choice.

The Cardinals are waiting to hear whether Larry Fitzgerald will play in 2021. But, in the interim, his retirement decision will not impact the team’s board in this week’s draft, GM Steve Keim says. 

[RELATED: Cardinals Eyeing CBs, Waddle?]

“No matter what Larry decides, it does not affect our draft plans,” Keim said (via ESPN.com). “Again, to me, you can’t have enough good players at one position. There [are] guys on a one-year contract. So, again, as far as building your team and the type of depth that you have, you can never have enough good players and, obviously, Larry Fitzgerald is a great one, so you wouldn’t say no to him either.”

The 37-year-old hasn’t tipped his hand to anyone — including Keim. Technically speaking, Fitzgerald is a free agent, but it’s believed that he’ll either return to the Cardinals or call it a career. For what it’s worth, executives “anticipate” that Fitzgerald is going to retire.

Either way, the Cardinals have to start thinking about the future of the position beyond Fitzgerald, who turns 38 in August. With that in mind, Keim anticipates that there will be five or six receivers taken in Round 1, which would leave plenty of quality options for them at No. 16 overall.

Larry Fitzgerald has played the past five seasons on one-year contracts, but the future Hall of Fame wide receiver had decided on a return by this point in each of those preceding offseasons.

Over the past three years, Fitzgerald decided to return in February 2018 — honoring a one-year extension he inked the previous November — and in January of 2019 and 2020. In each of the past five seasons, Fitzgerald’s going rate has been $11MM. Another such payment will be difficult to justify, given the Cardinals’ cap situation and Fitz’s performance in 2020.

But the 37-year-old wideout still appears to have a place on the 2021 team, Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com writes, should he decide he wants to play an 18th season. Fitzgerald said in February he did not have a timetable on whether he would retire or return. He was similarly mum when the topic resurfaced last week.

“I’ve said it a few times that you know he deserves that space,” Cards GM Steve Keim said. “At some point in time, I’m sure we’ll talk to him here in the near future.”

Last season, Fitzgerald fell off the consistent track he had traveled. He averaged just 7.6 yards per reception (54 catches, 409 yards, one touchdown) and missed three games. Fitz was one of many NFLers to contract COVID-19, and he experienced symptoms that sidelined him for two games. He then missed Week 17 because of a groin injury — his first injury-related absence since the 2014 season.

The Cards have DeAndre Hopkins signed to a $27.3MM-per-year pact, but he is on their 2021 cap sheet at just $12.5MM. Christian Kirk has one season remaining on his rookie contract. Arizona has $12.5MM in cap space and has younger pending free agents in Patrick Peterson, Haason Reddick and Kenyan Drake.

Even if Fitzgerald comes back, the team will still likely add at the receiver position to provide Kyler Murray more help. But a decision should be expected soon, and it will almost certainly determine if Fitzgerald heads to Canton in 2027 or 2028. He ranks second all time in receptions, with those 1,432 catches leading active active pass catchers by more than 500. Fitz’s 17,492 receiving yards are also second; that number leads active players by over 4,500 yards.

Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald still isn’t sure about his plans for 2021 and beyond. When asked at a Pro-Am tournament in Arizona, Fitzgerald stressed that he isn’t in any rush to announce his retirement or return. 

“I’m just playing golf right now, that’s all I’m worried about,” Fitzgerald said. “No timeline. I’m just taking it day by day. Honestly I haven’t given it much thought.”

Speculation about Fitzgerald’s future has become something of an offseason staple. In 2017, Fitzgerald was thought to be on his farewell tour. Then, midway through the year, he inked a one-year extension worth $11MM. A few re-ups later, Fitzgerald is still going. In his age-37 season, Fitzgerald was still reasonably productive with 54 catches for 409 yards and one touchdown. The 11-time Pro Bowler has pretty much done it all, save for capturing a Super Bowl ring.

“You wouldn’t see me around here anymore if [we win the Super Bowl],” Fitzgerald said last September. “Another catch, another touchdown, another yard is not going to make more whatever – my legacy is pretty much cemented. I just want to win a championship, I want to compete for a division title. Those are the things that are important to me.”

The chase could lead him to return for his age-38 campaign but, for now, he’s keeping the focus on his family and his short game.