Cardinals Must Continue to Feed Marvin Harrison Jr.

Marvin Harrison Jr. is the key to success for the Arizona Cardinals offense.

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. at training camp at State Farm Stadium in Glendale | Owen Ziliak / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Arizona Cardinals are going into their second season with Marvin Harrison Jr. as the team's No. 1 wide receiver.

There's not much talent in the wide receiver room outside of Harrison, so the Cardinals will have to rely on him frequently during his second season in the NFL.

ESPN analyst Ben Solak looks into how the Cardinals used Harrison in the offense in his first season in the league.

"The No. 4 pick led the league in contested targets as a rookie for the Cardinals with 40, per NFL Next Gen Stats," Solak wrote.

"There are a few reasons something like this happens. For one, the quarterback wants to give his receiver chances, no matter the cost. Davante Adams had a league-leading 51 tight-window targets in 2022 with the Raiders, then another 41 (ranked second) in 2023. A worryingly critical part of then-coach Josh McDaniels' offensive game plan for the Raiders was simply "get the ball somewhere near Adams and let him do the rest."

"Kyler Murray clearly treated Harrison this same way -- whether it was because he really held Harrison in that esteem, or because he was coached to throw it to Harrison no matter the circumstances, I don't know. Murray would default to a Harrison one-on-one on the backside of concepts when the frontside was available to read out. Not the wrong decision, just a telling one. And it was doubly telling when we consider that these throws weren't really going all that well, yet the Cardinals stayed on them anyway."

While Trey McBride will be in the middle of the field, Murray's most common play will be to find Harrison and give him the football.

If the Cardinals can do this more effectively in 2025, they could end their four-year playoff drought and make their way into the postseason.