Just recently, Marvin Harrison Jr. experienced an unfortunate missed catch. He was completely free down the field, Kyler Murray threw an accurate pass, but Harrison wasn’t able to secure the ball.
Luckily, that one fell to the ground and remained incomplete.
Harrison’s difficulties early in his sophomore year were clearly visible to a large audience watching Thursday night’s game, and a significant error resulted in a change of possession. The Arizona Cardinals receiver had an excellent pass delivered precisely into his hands over the center of the field, but it deflected off his hands, and as he attempted to regain control, the ball bounced into the air and directly to Seattle Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV for an interception.
Coming out of Ohio State, Harrison was projected to be a game-changing talent. He was regarded as one of the most promising receiver prospects in recent memory and was selected fourth in the NFL Draft after three quarterbacks were chosen. However, his performance has not met the expectations of either him or the Cardinals.
Harrison had an inconsistent first year, but his performance was still promising enough to warrant higher expectations for his second season. He had a decent first game but then only gained 71 yards in Arizona’s subsequent two games. Viewers witnessed his embarrassing drop against the 49ers, and then he had the drop on Thursday night that resulted in an interception. Prior to that, Harrison and Murray had a major miscommunication, leading to Darnold throwing to an empty space on the right side as Harrison continued running upfield.
Harrison’s challenges are becoming so prominent that during the Amazon Prime Video pregame show, former NFL tight end Tony Gonzalez mentioned that he had spoken with Harrison about his own experiences with drops during his second season.
It’s premature to label Harrison a failure. However, his lack of productivity and errors are overshadowing any positive contributions he has made.
