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Marvin Harrison Jr. finishes rookie year identically to Hall of Fame dad’s
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Marvin Harrison Jr. finishes rookie year identically to Hall of Fame dad’s

Originally posted on Burn City Sports  |  By Jordyn Bennett  |  Last updated Jan 8, 2025 4:50 PM ET

The biggest gamble in all sports is drafting players, especially when it comes to who is taken with the first pick.

While their record doesn’t always show it, the Arizona Cardinals have been one of the best team’s at making the right decision when they first get on the board. Since swinging and missing on Josh Rosen in 2018 (as most of us did), the Cardinals’ inaugural picks over the next six years wouldn’t go to waste.

The Rosen experiment was quickly forgotten within a year after Arizona took Kyler Murray with the first pick of the ensuing draft, landing the Cardinals’ QB1 for more than half a decade now. Cardinals’ 2020 first round pick and current Giants safety Isaiah Simmons‘ ability to play any position on defense made it difficult for him to ever find his footing as a Cardinal, but was able to show his belonging in the league with three productive seasons in The Valley. Linebacker Zaven Collins signed for two more years after his rookie deal, and the next two drafts gave us Pro Bowl tight end Trey McBride and on-the-rise offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr.

The seasons may not always reflect it, but draft weekend has typically been a good one for the Cardinals, especially in 2024.

With the fourth pick in this past NFL Draft, the Cardinals selected generational wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. out of Ohio State. From the moment he stepped on the Buckeyes’ campus, Harrison Jr. showed that he was an NFL-caliber player, being named a unanimous All-American in back-to-back years in 2022 and 2023, and adding emphasis to his ’23 campaign by winning the Fred Biletnikoff Award as college football’s best receiver.

Even without the accolades to support, Harrison Jr. had a name that stood tall with the greatest NFL players in history: His father, NFL Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison Sr.

Harrison Jr.’s dad played 13 seasons for the Indianapolis Colts, where he became all-time great quarterback and fellow Hall of Famer Peyton Manning’s favorite target for years. The expectation was high for Harrison Jr. coming into his rookie season, and now that his first year is in the book, it’s clear the apple does not fall far from the tree.

The father-son duo’s rookie campaigns were nearly identical.

Harrison Sr. played his first pro football season in 1996, where he caught 64 passes for 836 yards and eight touchdowns. His son was the spitting image of his father in his freshman year in the league, bringing down 62 catches for 885 yards and eight touchdowns. Harrison Jr. was targeted 116 times this season; his dad was sought after on 118 attempts.

The younger of the two scored his final touchdown of the season in the Cardinals’ 47-24 season-ending victory over the San Francisco 49ers Sunday. Harrison Jr.’s eight receiving scores tied Cardinals’ legends Anquan Boldin (2003) and Larry Fitzgerald (2004) for most receiving touchdowns by a rookie in organization history.

The mirroring seasons do not guarantee that Harrison Jr. will duplicate a Hall of Fame career or will produce eight consecutive seasons with more than 1,000 receiving yards and 10-plus touchdowns, but the similarities are hopefully uncanny. At the very least, you can say the Cardinals made the right pick and have confidence in their front office about what they’ll do in this upcoming draft.

The Cardinals have the No. 16 overall pick in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft and rumors are circulating that Arizona will select a lineman on either side of the ball. Some NFL insiders have linked Ohio State offensive tackle Josh Simmons — the No. 1 ranked tackle in the class — to the Cardinals’ first pick.

Arizona has found a pipeline with the Buckeyes, taking Johnson Jr. and Harrison Jr. with its last two first round selections and the results have worked out in its favor. Taking another player out of Columbus, Ohio wouldn’t necessarily be the worst thing, and history has proved it.

This article first appeared on Burn City Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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