Marvin Harrison Jr. trade is another stain on Monti Ossenfort’s resume

GLENDALE — The Arizona Cardinals’ Marvin Harrison Jr. experience is over.

All the franchise and its fans got to show for it were a couple of draft picks and a tenure filled with inconsistency and frustration.

No living up to expectations. No 1,000-yard season. No season with double-digit scores.

Mention any of those stats during the 2024 NFL Draft process, and just about everyone would have looked at you crazy given the no-doubt prospect everyone expected Harrison to be.

Instead, the 2024 No. 4 overall pick heads to the Houston Texans via trade for a pair of non-Day 1 picks. But even that couldn’t happen without Arizona adding in draft capital themselves.

His biggest highlights through it all? Just two 100-yard games in 33 tries.

Honestly, getting a 2027 second- and sixth-round pick back in return for a wide receiver who has completely missed his mark as an NFL pro is a lot better than the “quality Day 3 pick” that was being floated as compensation when the trade chatter began picking up.

Still, this whole mess is a massive L for everyone involved. Michael Wilson’s contract extension was a win-win-win. This is a lose-lose-lose for general manager Monti Ossenfort, the franchise and its fans.

As fans have put it this weekend, it’s yet another “classic Cardinals” moment.

This is a clear admission of failure on the part of Ossenfort. The GM entered this season firmly on the hot seat after using former head coach Jonathan Gannon and his firing as a scapegoat.

Despite bringing in head coach Mike LaFleur, who looks like he has potential, the losses continue to pile up. The defense is still an issue after little revamping this offseason and the offense can’t get out of its own way.

Not only that, his NFL Draft resume continues to get shredded. Harrison’s departure is just the latest example of that.

A quick recap of Ossenfort’s first-round picks over the years:

– 2023: Paris Johnson Jr. (starter but has finished the season on IR the past three years)
– 2024: Marvin Harrison Jr. (traded after failing to meet expectations)
– 2024: Darius Robinson (rotational piece who lost his starting role in 2026)
– 2025: Walter Nolen III (missed most of his rookie year and hasn’t popped like he should in Year 2)
– 2026: Jeremiyah Love (dealing with ankle issues and splitting carries)

And that’s just the first-rounders!

Across Ossenfort’s first two drafts, only eight of the 21 players remain on the roster. That includes 2023 second-rounder BJ Ojulari and 2024 third-round picks Trey Benson and Elijah Jones being shown the door, too.

Don’t get me started on the free agency whiffs (Jonah Williams, Justin Jones, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Bilal Nichols, etc.), either.

Aside from Mack Wilson Sr., Arizona’s 2024 free agency class was about as bad as it gets for an NFL front office.

Ossenfort is missing more than he’s hitting, whether that be through the draft or free agency, and the product on the football field reflects that.

How on earth can you trust the guy to make any more of this franchise’s draft picks, including the ones brought back in the Harrison deal or a first-round quarterback prospect, with that kind of track record?

Ossenfort is 16-39 as Arizona’s general manager with plenty more losses expected between now and the end of the season.

If the Harrison move isn’t the final nail in his Cardinals coffin, another season where the team is out of the playoff race before it even begins should do it.

Whatever fabric that was still hanging on by a thread of his increasingly hot seat, has to be just about gone at this point.

Related

Mike LaFleur, Jacoby Brissett react to Marvin Harrison Jr. trade newsRapid reactions: Cardinals fall to Lions, their fourth straight lossCardinals’ loss showed they need Carson Beck on the field as soon as possibleDrew Petzing gets last laugh as Lions light up CardinalsESPN gives Cardinals high marks for return in Marvin Harrison Jr. tradeASU alum Keith Abney II picks off Cardinals’ Jacoby Brissett as part of career day