Rather than opting to trade down out of the #4 pick, giving the next quarterback hungry team a chance to find their signal caller for the price of substantial draft capital, the Arizona Cardinals decided to select the player who many draft analysts believed was the best player in the 2024 draft class regardless of position. Marvin Harrison Jr. is now on his way to the NFL, where Cardinals fans hope he’ll be forming a prolific duo with quarterback Kyler Murray in Arizona.
For the Cardinals, this was a pick based on necessity as much as it was just drafting for the best player available. Heading into draft night, the top four receivers on the Cardinals 2024 depth chart were Michael Wilson, Greg Dortch, Chris Moore and Zach Pascal. Not exactly a murderer’s row of pass catchers, even if you throw tight end Trey McBride into the mix. But the arrival in Arizona is just as anticipated for Harrison Jr., who spent his junior season at Ohio State catching passes from Kyle McCord, who decided to transfer to Syracuse after a subpar outing versus Michigan in the Buckeyes regular season finale.
While Kyler Murray hasn’t necessarily had the success you’d ideally hope for from a former 1st overall pick, it’s fair to say that he’s arguably one of the most dynamic players to ever play the quarterback position. So it makes sense that Marvin Harrison Jr. is excited to be pairing up with him in the Grand Canyon State.
“Kyler is awesome… he’s a guy you want to play with. He’s just so dynamic as a quarterback and I just want to go in there and make his job easier as soon as I can,” Harrison said when asked about meeting Kyler Murray during his pre-draft visit with the Cardinals, per Omar Ruiz of NFL Network.
Now that the pick is official, Cardinals fans will begin to talk themselves into Murray to Harrison Jr. starting to resemble Manning to Harrison Sr. As long-time members of the Indianapolis Colts, Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison Sr. combined for 961 receptions, 12,881 yards and 112 touchdowns, all league records for a quarterback to wide receiver tandem. Expecting that sort of sustained excellence would be foolish, but at the time of the year, it’s very easy to get caught up in the exaggerated potential of any draft pick.
Harrison Jr. wasn’t the only pick that the Cardinals made on night one of the NFL Draft. With the 27th pick — received via last year’s trade with the Houston Texans — the Cards selected defensive end Darius Robinson from Missouri. But Arizona’s 2024 NFL Draft is just getting started. General manager Monti Ossenfort still have nine more picks at his disposal, including four on night two of the NFL Draft, which kicks off tonight at 7 PM on ESPN, ABC, and NFL Network.
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