Can Cardinals’ Mike LaFleur unlock Marvin Harrison Jr.?

The Arizona Cardinals wide receivers room has plenty of potential and talent, highlighted by Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson.

Of the offensive position groups outlined throughout this series, wide receiver is among the most intriguing.

A look at two of the biggest questions surrounding Arizona’s wideouts heading into training camp:

Cardinals wide receiver questions ahead of training camp

Can Cardinals’ Mike LaFleur unlock Marvin Harrison Jr.?

Two seasons have come and gone for Harrison, and he hasn’t lived up to the hype that comes with being a top-five pick.

Injuries haven’t helped. Neither has instability at quarterback and head coach, or an appendectomy midway through last season. Still, the jury remains out on if the wide receiver is going to rise to the occasion and be that true WR1 many expected him to be coming out of college.

Michael Wilson made it look easy as Arizona’s WR1 last year. That hasn’t been the case for Harrison.

That’s where LaFleur comes in.

Sure, he presents a first-year head coach who is finding his bearings in a new role, but LaFleur brings with him an offensive mind tailored to getting the best out of his playmakers, especially wideouts.

Kendrick Bourne credits a lot of his success to his early NFL days working alongside then-wide receivers coach LaFleur in San Francisco. Their time together played a part in Bourne signing with the franchise this offseason despite the expectations for the team.

And it’s clear LaFleur already has ideas on how to get Harrison going in Arizona’s offense.

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During offseason work, LaFleur compared Harrison to Los Angeles Rams wideout Davante Adams, who went nuts as a red-zone scoring threat last year working under LaFleur.

That should be the starting point for Harrison. Let Wilson chew up receiving yards and be the equalizer where it’s needed most.

Harrison putting up a similar stat line to Adams’ 789 yards and 14 touchdowns in his first year with LaFleur would have a lot of Cardinals fans breathing a sigh of relief.

The Cardinals wideout appears to have taken that thinking to heart, too, bulking up even more this offseason in preparation for more battles in the end zone.

Can Michael Wilson keep it going after his breakout year?

One of the biggest positives from Arizona’s failure of a season was Wilson’s emergence as a true WR1 threat.

With Harrison working through multiple injuries, appendicitis and inconsistencies, Wilson stepped up and showed out with 78 catches for 1,006 yards and seven touchdowns.

Now up for a contract extension, the big question is whether that was a one-year fluke or if Wilson is headed for WR1 territory for good.

Because while Wilson has the ability to be that guy, he also had three big factors working in his favor last year:

– Jacoby Brissett (and his ability to hang in the pocket and let plays develop)
– A one-sided offense
– Harrison’s unavailability

There’s no denying Wilson hit another gear with Brissett taking over for Kyler Murray in Week 6. Most of his stats — 70 catches for 954 yards and six touchdowns — come from Brissett throwing Wilson the rock.

What does Wilson’s stat line look without Brissett under center? In the not-so-distant future (if not sooner), there’s likely going to be someone else at QB not named Brissett.

Arizona’s putrid run game also played a major part in Wilson seeing nearly the same amount of targets in 2025 (126) than he did across his first two NFL seasons combined (129).

There are still doubts about the strength of the right side of the offensive line, but Jeremiyah Love and Tyler Allgeier should have the run game in a much better place than it was a year ago.

LaFleur is going to want a more balanced attack, and that means turning targets into more carries.

The hope is Harrison is on the field and producing at a higher clip, too. He only had 41 catches on 73 targets last year. Those numbers are bound to increase, and they all aren’t coming from tight end Trey McBride’s target share.

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