When the Arizona Cardinals drafted wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., they hoped to get an other-worldly talent. Fast forward a year and four weeks, and he has not met expectations. His game against the Seattle Seahawks was a tale of two halves and people were going all over the place in social media.
Kyler Murray threw two interceptions and Harrison had something to do in both of them. The first one, Harrison stopped his route, hence Murray’s throw went all the way to Seattle’s safety. The second one, Harrison bumbled an easy pass and couldn’t catch it, throwing it back in the air, making it easy for the Seahawks to intercept it. He bounced back in the second half with a great touchdown and key catches.
“I’ve gotta give a tremendous amount of credit and respect to Marvin Harrison Jr. He really hung in there, battled through a ton of adversity, and overcame it all to show why he’s a future star in this league. Marvin displayed true football character in every sense of the word — something we can all appreciate,” said Jordan Schultz.
Harrison was seen as a generational talent
While he bounced back, his first half was awful. User ZIM said, “Marvin Harrison Jr. is the most talented f— up in the NFL. His drops are nasty every week. Cardinals were driving too…” User FFB Fanatics posted, “The haters said Marvin Harrison Jr. was only good because of his dad. They said Marvin was just another ‘system WR’ propped up by Ohio State’s QB factory. They said Marvin couldn’t separate against NFL corners. They were correct. Honestly a good call from the haters.“
The touchdown shown above was the turning point late in the fourth. Fans also reacted to that. “Marvin Harrison Jr. looks like he’s about to cry after that TD… Finally proving he can make it happen for Arizona,” Aggregate Sports said. Zach Bollinger also posted, “Now THAT’S the Marvin Harrison Jr. I remember.”
Harrison and Murray are not there yet, but the glimpses are great
The connection between quarterback and wide receiver is key. However, you can clearly see Kyler Murray and Harrison are not on the same page. The routes that Harrison runs are not the routes the QB expects. That leads to stopped drives, turnovers and frustration.
But then, you see Harrison go for 6 catches, 66 yards and one touchdown in the fourth quarter. A couple of those catches were tough grabs as well. Hence, there is potential, but there’s more than a season played and the fact that they don’t have a great, stable connection yet is concerning. The Cardinals offense depends on it.