Trading Marvin Harrison Jr.: Should the Cardinals actually do it?

TEMPE — Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.’s name has been attached to the word “trade” way more than many would have expected heading into the regular season.

Nationally, ESPN’s Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler have tossed out the idea, reporting teams are monitoring the MHJ situation in Arizona.

It’s not all that surprising giving the current optics.

This season has not gone how many thought it would for Harrison in a critical Year 3 for the wideout.

Instead of taking noticeable steps in the right direction, Harrison has instead gone backward. Through three weeks, the 2024 No. 4 overall pick has just four catches for 73 yards and no touchdowns on nine targets.

And despite the Cardinals bringing in offensive-minded head coach Mike LaFleur, who quickly compared the Ohio State alum to Davante Adams, Harrison still isn’t living up to the lofty expectations that come with being a top-five pick.

In fact, he’s looking more like an afterthought in the offense than anything else. Before Sunday’s five-target day, Harrison had just four to his name through two games. Hard to do much of anything when the ball isn’t coming your way.

Then there’s the effort questions. While he looked much more engaged play in and play out last week, that wasn’t the case in Arizona’s loss to Seattle. On multiple occasions, Harrison was slow coming off the line and was caught sleepwalking at times on his run-blocking assignments.

That naturally led people to wonder if the wide receiver was checked out, unhappy with his role or a mixture of both.

Toss in wide receiver Michael Wilson’s recent contract extension and how that might play into a future pay day for Harrison and tight end Trey McBride’s standing as the top option, and it’s not hard to go down that path.

If you’re an NFL executive in need of a pass catcher, why wouldn’t you test the waters, especially when you could potentially get a first-rounder for a bargain?

But while the fan frustration and chatter grow around the wide receiver, it is far from time to pull the plug on the MHJ experiment.

For one, moving Harrison for anything less than a Day 1 or high Day 2 pick (that’s even a stretch) would look like an absolute fail on general manager Monti Ossenfort’s part. And let’s be honest, he can’t afford much more bad press at this rate.

If a team comes calling with an offer centered around a “quality Day 3 pick” as Fowler mentioned in his reporting, Ossenfort should hang up. Entertaining the conversation would just be a waste of everyone’s time.

Arizona is not in a place to give up on premium talent or high draft capital for pennies on the dollar. Given how the year has transpired so far, that’s exactly what it would be.

The Cardinals are also just three games into the LaFleur era. The offense has largely operated through McBride, Wilson and rookie running back Jeremiyah Love.

That’s not always going to be the case, though. There are going to be waves of production for Harrison and others not in the big three of McBride, Wilson and Love.

Just look at Kendrick Bourne. He went from seeing eight targets in Week 1 to six the past two weeks.

The ebbs and flows of a season are very real. It’s on Harrison to stay ready. As Larry Fitzgerald said this week when talking about the advice he would give Harrison on the Rich Eisen Show, the Hall of Famer kept it simple: Put the blinders on, block out the noise and focus on football. Everything else will work itself out.

Instead of getting on the phone and weighing the options, the Cardinals should be focusing on how to get Harrison going at a more consistent clip. Getting him more targets should help not only on the stat sheet but also with keeping the wide receiver engaged.

Even if the Cardinals were entertaining dealing Harrison, getting more production to up the asking price is imperative.

After his initial reporting last week, Graziano said Friday the Cardinals have not indicated any interest in dealing Harrison at this time.

Good. They shouldn’t be.

Why the Cardinals would ultimately trade Marvin Harrison Jr.

The only way I see Arizona moving on from Harrison is if the effort questions continue.

Not getting consistent production out of a top draft pick is one thing. Not getting consistent effort out of that same player is a terrible look and a great way to get bounced off the roster.

Harrison started to turn that around last week. His upped usage likely helped. What happens if his target share reverts back to what it was?

If it does and Harrison again lets off the gas, everything is on the table — even moving on from him by this year’s trade deadline.

Do I think we’ll get there? No.

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