How does Cardinals’ Marvin Harrison Jr. get back on track amid quiet 2026?

TEMPE — Another week, another flood of Marvin Harrison Jr. talk.

And not in a good way.

Instead of having that bounce-back performance from his one-catch effort in the Arizona Cardinals’ season-opening win, Harrison took a step backward in Sunday’s 31-7 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Not only did Harrison see fewer targets (three to one) than he did against the Los Angeles Chargers, the wideout finished with a pair of goose eggs in receptions and yards. It is hard to make much of anything happen when only one opportunity (and a bad one at that) comes your way.

In two games this year, Harrison now has two of the worst showings in his career despite offensive-minded Mike LaFleur running the show. The wideout has accounted for just 4.6% of the team’s target share so far this year. For a No. 4 overall pick, that simply cannot be the case.

Not that long ago, Harrison was talking about how it was a “wide receiver’s dream” to play under a head coach with an emphasis in the room. So far, it’s looked more like a nightmare.

All that talk about how Harrison fits LaFleur’s offense as that Davante Adams type has been just that in 2026.

Is that more on Harrison, the team, the opposing defense or a mix of it all?

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Tyler Drake (@tdrake4sports)

“The spots he was trying to get to he was getting to we just weren’t able to connect,” LaFleur said Monday.

“It’s a long season. We’re two games (in),” the head coach added. “There were some opportunities yesterday that I thought either the defense dictated it couldn’t go there or just self-inflicted wounds. It was kind of 50-50.”

Of the missed opportunities to Harrison, the second play of the game stands out to LaFleur, who told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo that it could have been a 50-yard touchdown strike had it not been for poor execution on Arizona’s part. Right tackle Elijah Wilkinson was the big culprit there after letting his man blow by and forcing Jacoby Brissett to throw an incompletion in the dirt.

The third pass play was another missed chance for Harrison on a shake route thanks to Seattle nickel cornerback Devon Witherspoon dropping deeper into coverage. Brissett ended up checking it down to Trey McBride.

Still, it’s clear the Cardinals leaned into a quicker passing game through the first two weeks of the season. Brissett’s average time to throw ranks sixth in the NFL at 2.62 seconds heading into Monday Night Football.

It’s a good way to help lighten the load for an inconsistent offensive line while also countering defensive pressures with speed. Get the ball in the playmakers’ hands and let them create.

Unsurprisingly, McBride has been the primary benefactor given his status, connection with Brissett and the shorter routes he runs.

Sunday was the latest example of that, with McBride reeling in eight of 10 targets for 41 yards and the touchdown. That’s 4.6 yards per target.

Kendrick Bourne has seen more looks than expected through two weeks and is averaging 4.3 yards per target. He’s currently the second-leading pass catcher on the roster.

Michael Wilson sits at 9.6 yards per target.

Harrison on the other hand? He’s averaging a career high 18.6 yards per target, a jump from the 13.6-yard range he posted the two seasons prior. A small sample size with just four targets, but something to consider.

There were a few occasions against the Seahawks where Harrison wasn’t at the top of his route by the time Brissett let it fly elsewhere.

So even when Harrison did find some space in the secondary, it didn’t really matter.

The Seahawks defense gets a lot of credit for speeding things up for Brissett, specifically in the second half with an uptick in pressures, but there was also a concerted effort on Arizona’s part to get the ball out before Seattle’s defense could fully bear down.

That just doesn’t mesh with what Harrison, who has the second-most routes ran on the team with 59 (per Next Gen Stats), is being asked to do in this offense.

Utilizing shorter routes and not leaning so hard into go routes or posts could go a long way in getting him more involved. It’s not like Wilson or Bourne can’t move over to boundary, either.

LaFleur loves the versatility in the wide receivers room. Use it.

You know what else would go a long way? Harrison getting more first-read looks or just moving up a notch or two in Brissett’s progression.

Obviously, McBride warrants a lot of those first reads. Bourne has been key in the underneath game so far, too.

But time and time again, Brissett isn’t even looking Harrison’s way until later on in his progression.

And a lot of that is by design early on.

“Everyone’s kind of got their role right there,” LaFleur said. “That doesn’t mean that we won’t (change things) this week if we think that is what’s best in terms of working him underneath, but that’s not what we thought was best through the first two weeks.”

There’s only so many targets and touches to go around for a franchise littered with playmakers. Allocating more targets to Harrison means taking away from McBride, Wilson, Bourne and the run game.

But at some point, you just got to feed the beast to try and shake things shake loose for the third-year pro.

With every week of underutilization, the chatter grows and the confidence shrinks.

Related

Cardinals’ Will Johnson in danger of missing rest of season with neck injuryFar from explosive: The Cardinals’ biggest issues in loss to SeahawksMailbag: Ask our resident Cardinals reporter a questionHarrison Jr.’s missing act and Brissett’s bad day expose Cardinals’ offense vs. SeattleRapid reactions: Cardinals stumble in decisive loss to SeahawksArizona Cardinals run game off to concerning start 2 games in