Robert Mays of The Athletic had "Yahoo writer and Reception Perception creator Matt Harmon" join him "to look back at the highs and lows of 2024 for pass catchers, from the good surprises, to the bad surprises, and evaluating some rookie seasons as well." They spent about four minutes on Marvin Harrison here:
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Key takeaways:
1. One-sentence headline: "This has been frustrating."
2. Issues with how he's deployed in the scheme: They're using him in too many "sacrificial X-receiver" ways: vertical stuff, go routes, corner routes, and deep curls, which is not ideal. The usage could be more diverse. Harmon likes Petzing's offense, but it's very traditional in terms of WR deployment; if he could suggest one thing to the Cardinals it would be, "What if we did some Cee Dee Lamb type stuff".
3. QB issues: Kyler Murray is a "volatile" QB
4. Player issues: Harrison's play at the catch point - coming back to the ball, tracking the ball, and extending to make the catch in tight coverage and contested situations - was a minor negative in an overall fantastic prospect profile at OSU. But it's been a HUGE issue for him as a rookie. The biggest question going forward is, how much of that is something he can correct, and how much must be schemed around?
5. Mays adds that early in the season it seemed as though the team was testing his limits as a "big boy X receiver" lining up outside the numbers - to understand what they he was capable of in that role, rather than trying to immediately find his optimal usage in multiple roles. As the season has gone along, we've seen him on more crossing routes and deployed in slightly different ways. Harmon agrees and responds that despite Harrison being 6'4" and looking like a "big boy downfield ball winner", that wasn't what he did best at OSU. He runs in-breaking routes well - like his dad, he's a great route runner and very proficient technician - but not a "freak show, take the top off the defense X receiver".
6. Harmon adds that Michael Wilson has shown some ability to be take some reps at X receiver and he'd like to see them interchange roles some of the time.
7. Bottom line: equal shares of blame go to QB, deployment, and Harrison.