Cardinals' Marvin Harrison Jr., a former top 5 pick, struggles early in season

Through the first two weeks of the 2026 season, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr . has just one catch for 33 yards. Five different players on the Cardinals have more grabs, including both of the team's running backs. Harrison has only been targeted four times by Jacoby Brissett in those two games, a mark that ranks tied for fifth on the team with Tyler Allgeier . Ostensible No. 3 wideout Kendrick Bourne has more than twice as many targets (11) and 10 times as many catches (10) as Harrison.

The raw counting stats sound bad, but the rate stats might be even worse when you look at them in the context of the league. There are 103 wide receivers who have run 25 or more routes so far this year, according to TruMedia. Harrison ranks 100th among that group in target rate, at 6.5%. Such luminaries as Konata Mumpfield , Kevin Coleman Jr. , Bryce Lance , LaJohntay Wester and Xavier Legette have been targeted more often on a per-route basis. He ranks 92nd in yards per route run, at 0.52. Players like Jahan Dotson and Isaiah Williams and Roman Wilson have generated more yards on a per-route basis.

Ordinarily, a receiver getting off to a poor start to the season wouldn't be all that notable. It happens. The difference is that Harrison isn't just any wide receiver. He's the son of Marvin Harrison, one of the greatest receivers of all time. He's the former No. 4 overall pick in the NFL Draft . And he was widely considered one of the best wide receiver prospects in years when he came out of Ohio State. And he's already been disappointing through the first two years of his career. So this cold start is especially notable, and especially alarming. He looks like he could go down as a huge draft bust if anything remotely like this keeps up.

It's worth asking what, exactly, is going on down in Arizona.

Harrison's usage

The way Harrison is being used within the offense is, frankly, not conducive to being targeted at a high volume.

Among the aforementioned group of 103 wide receivers who have run 25 or more routes so far this year, Harrison has the farthest average route depth, according to TruMedia. The average break on his routes has come an incredible 12.83 yards down the field. That mark would have led the league last year, ahead of guys like AD Mitchell, Alec Pierce , Tyquan Thornton and more. Those guys are pure deep threats. That's how Harrison is being deployed right now.

You can see this in his route distribution. He's run 62 routes so far this year, according toTru Media, and 19 of them have been go routes. That 30.6% go-route rate is fifth-highest among those 103 receivers. His post-route rate of 12.9% is 23rd among the same group of players. Those routes combine to make up 43.5% of his total. And he's been targeted just once on those 27 combined routes; that target yielded his one 33-yard catch.

> pic.twitter.com/yfqAvmdWpO — jadubin5clips (@jadubin5clips) September 22, 2026

Harrison, in other words, is being used as the so-called Sacrificial X receiver. He's lining up on the line of scrimmage, out to the wide side of the field, and running his man off the line in order to create space for other players underneath the coverage. That's not a role conducive to being targeted at a high rate, and he has accordingly not seen the ball very many times so far.

Harrison's effort

Of course, you can't blame everything on his utilization. Harrison already has a drop, for example, and there are numerous times on film where you can see him running routes at less than full exertion. There was a pretty brutal cut-up from Week 1 alone that showcased his lack of speed, crispness and ability to create separation on his routes.

> Marvin Harrison Jr. struggled to get ANYTHING going against the Chargers. Harrison Jr. finished the game with 3 TGTS, 1 REC, 33 total yards, and 1 registered drop. The Cardinals former 4th overall pick is NOT off to an ideal start to his third year 👀😳 pic.twitter.com/GqzNrdoU9A — Rookie Watch (@RookieWatxh) September 17, 2026

Not content to put that effort forth in just the season opener, Harrison went out there and did it again in Week 2 against the division rival Seahawks . There are times here where he is barely even pretending to be part of the play or look for the ball to come his way.

> I hesitate to ascribe too much to body language on a guy's tape, but... This looks like somebody who has checked out. At times before this season, it felt like MHJR was just way low on confidence. Here, he doesn't look like he ever expects the ball. pic.twitter.com/69Uw2ZcB8k — Sam Monson (@SamMonsonNFL) September 21, 2026

> really great blocking effort too, Marv pic.twitter.com/JOdJidAvms — Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) September 22, 2026

That's unacceptable stuff, even if the ball isn't designed to come to you. You have to run your route as if you will get the ball. (And you have to block, because the run could come your way as well.)

First of all, because there is a chance it will actually come to you, even if it's not designed to do so. ( Josh Allen said he had never thrown the route that resulted in his game-winning touchdown pass to Josh Palmer in Week 1, for example.) And second of all, if you're not putting forth the full effort to run the coverage off for your teammates, then they won't be as open as they're supposed to be, and that undermines the rest of the offense.

Other players are better options

The biggest reason the ball isn't coming Harrison's way is that he's just very clearly not the best pass catcher -- and he may not even be the best wide receiver -- in his own offense, even if he was drafted that way.

Trey McBride is arguably the best tight end in the NFL . He leads all tight ends with 23 targets and 17 receptions this season, and his 136 receiving yards rank fourth at the position. Last year, McBride led all tight ends in targets, catches, yards and touchdowns. He is always open. Brissett trusts him, and so do the coaches running the offense, because he has earned that trust with his play. (That was true of both last year's coaching staff and this year's.)

Over the last year-plus, Michael Wilson has also looked like the better option than Harrison. He exploded when Harrison missed time last season, and he's done a better job of earning targets (seven in each of the first two games) this season. The coaching staff said before the year that it wanted to use Wilson in a Puka Nacua-style role in the offense as the Z receiver and Harrison in Davante Adams ' role as the X, and that has held true so far this year. It's not surprising that Wilson is being targeted at a much higher rate given the players' respective roles and their level of play.

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/cardinals-marvin-harrison-jr-potential-bust/)._