Marvin Harrison Jr. joined the NFL touted as a can’t-miss prospect: the prototype of a high-level NFL receiver with all the tools to make an immediate impact for the Arizona Cardinals.
His NFL debut on Sunday was a success. Quarterback Kyler Murray targeted Harrison three times in Sunday’s 34-28 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Harrison caught one of those passes and gained 4 yards.
To say the least, it was a disappointing debut for the No. 4 pick in April’s NFL Draft, who was widely rated as the best player in his draft class.
On Tuesday, Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing acknowledged that the Cardinals can do better in terms of getting the ball to Harrison.
“He’s certainly at the forefront of our minds in terms of getting him the ball,” Petzing said, according to the Cardinals’ website. “I think (the Bills) did some things to get him off of it, and I certainly could have called some plays to get him more involved early on, but I think it was a good start.
“We have work to do.”
There is a lot of work to be done, no doubt.
Harrison is a 6-foot-3, 185-pound route-runner with elite speed, hands and athleticism. He’s a game-changing player on every deep route he runs who was virtually uncoverable in two seasons as a starter at Ohio State.
Of course, Harrison never faced the Bills’ defense in the Big Ten. Few standout rookies succeed in their first taste of a real NFL defense. Harrison wasn’t one of them. And that’s OK.
But the Cardinals now have the task of figuring out what went wrong Sunday. There is no receiver on Arizona’s roster who comes remotely close to matching Harrison’s combination of size, skill and athleticism. Greg Dortch, Michael Wilson and Zach Pascal are not on Harrison’s same page.
Harrison should and likely will be Murray’s undisputed primary wide receiver. Now it’s up to the Cardinals to determine what that will look like.
Petzing said “the plan” is to get more goals for Harrison, and that task falls to him, not Murray.
“One of the things I try to stress to Kyler is that his job is not to give the ball to certain people or worry about how a player is doing in the flow of the game,” Petzing said. “I have to do that with how I run the game, and he has to make the best decision based on the way the game looks, the coverage and how the routes are run.”
The Cardinals will face the Los Angeles Rams in Week 2. It’s a safe bet that Harrison will have more than three targets on Sunday.