Revenge of the Birds
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated has made a living out of discussing issues within the NFL. Recently on his podcast, The Breer Report,“ he talked about QB Brendan Sorsby, the AFC picture this year, and Arizona Cardinals receiver Marvin Harrison, Jr.
Breer was sent a tweet asking:
“Why has Marvin Harrison, Jr., once heralded as the best WR of this era of Ohio State WR’s, been the worst one of Ohio State’s first round picks?”
RELATED: CARDINALS FANS THINK HARRISON IS UNDER PRESSURE
Which is not only a great question, but an interesting one.
In 2024, name a college accolade, and most likely, Harrison, Jr. took it home. Arizona chose Harrison, Jr. with the fourth overall pick and another receiver, Tejhaun Palmer (UAB), in Round 6. Harrison, Jr.’s speed, YAC numbers, and body control made him a “can’t miss” prospect. He had scored 31 TDs at the college level. He had NFL lineage as his father was already inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Harrison, Jr. had a decent rookie campaign with the Cardinals. He played in all 17 games with 16 starts. He had 116 targets with 62 receptions for 885 yards, a 14.3 yards per catch average, converted 43 first downs, one fumble, eight touchdowns, 148 YAC, and had five drops. However, he did not make the NFL All-Rookie Team.
In his second season, it was smack full of injuries: Concussion, appendectomy, heel damage, and a foot injury. The end result was that Harrison, Jr. only played in 12 games with 73 targets, 41 receptions for 608 yards, four TDs, and four drops.
The label “generational” has completely disappeared from any narrative regarding Harrison, Jr. There have already been discussions regarding trade talks.
Breer commented on the tweet:
“I think you’re probably right. He has been the worst one when you look at the guys who have gone in the first round. We’re talking Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, and Emeka Egbuka, who I think has flashed more potential early on than Harrison has.”
And Harrison, Jr. has good size, standing 6’-3” and 190 pounds. And the drops. The untimely drops? Nine drops in two seasons are really quite a lot. And the timing of his drops was at critical stages of games.
Breer also said:
“I’ll be honest with everyone here. I’m surprised by the results. I thought Marvin Harrison was going to come in and be a dominant player pretty quickly in the NFL. I do think if you look at the history of it, and this is really interesting, somebody at the Cardinals brought this up to me last year. Bigger receivers take a little longer to translate to the NFL because they have to do a little bit more to get open at the NFL level. And there’s a little less space for them to be physically dominant the way they were in college.”
Is there any truth behind that statement? Remember, it wasn’t Breer’s assumption. He said it came...
