Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (18) during minicamp at Cardinals training center in Tempe on June 12, 2025. Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Arizona Cardinals' 2025 Optimism Hinges on This Factor

Originally posted on Arizona Cardinals on SI
By Alex D'Agostino | Last updated Jul 22, 2025 6:00 PM ET

The Arizona Cardinals have made it to the end of a long, long NFL offseason.

Football is so close, you can almost feel it. It's been fun to talk endlessly about the offseason additions made by GM Monti Ossenfort, but when it comes down to actual results, the players that were invested in early in this regime will need to be the ones driving the team to success.

One such player is the ever-noteworthy Marvin Harrison Jr.

Arizona Cardinals' Reason for Optimism Revealed

CBS Sports' Tyler Sullivan listed one reason for each NFL team to have optimism heading into 2025. His Cardinals entry was very familiar: a Looming Year 2 jump from Marvin Harrison Jr.

"Now that the dust has largely settled on all those moves and teams are gearing up for the new year, now is as good a time as ever to look at each franchise and identify one reason for optimism for the upcoming 2025 season."

"Marvin Harrison Jr. didn't have a bad rookie season, but it also wasn't to the level that many hoped it could be after he was selected No. 4 overall by the Cardinals in the 2024 NFL Draft.

"The 22-year-old was billed as a generational wide receiver prospect, and there's still time for him to live up to that lofty billing. And the hype train surrounding Harrison's sophomore campaign has already started.

"Earlier this offseason, Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon tipped his hand in predicting a big season for Harrison, saying, 'just wait until this guy plays this year,'" Sullivan wrote.

Harrison is not the only factor in the Cardinals' success in 2025. But he will have the pressure of delivering much of the offensive production from Arizona's WR group.

The Cardinals have a standout RB and TE, but they need a WR1 to assert himself. Harrison's 2024 did not show that type of player, but he's poised to make that jump in 2025.

He's bigger, more confident, and more in tune with his QB and offensive system. The rest is up to that QB and that system to not let Harrison down.

The Cardinals need maturity out of Harrison, both from a football perspective and a mentality outlook.

He's not the type of player to have much of an outward presence — he lets his play do the talking. But perhaps, just a bit more confidence and assertiveness will be good for both he and the Cardinals.