Watch: Cardinals GM tells Marvin Harrison Jr. he has 3 jobs

Untapping a young player sometimes is about simplifying the game. Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort tried to do just that when he gave Marvin Harrison Jr. a ring to let the Ohio State receiver know he was headed to Arizona.

Ossenfort gave Harrison three simple jobs.

“Listen to me now,” Ossenfort said. “It’s been you, man. We’re excited to bring you here. You got three jobs, alright? Get open, catch the ball and help us win a lot of games.”

.@MarvHarrisonJr has three jobs:
▪️ Get open
▪️ Catch the ball
▪️ Help us win a lot of games pic.twitter.com/YEiRcXjzsV

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) April 26, 2024

Head coach Jonathan Gannon would like to “get to work” with Harrison, as he told the receiver plenty of times on the phone call.

It didn’t make for the very cool sequence that the Cardinals’ in-house content staff put together last draft when Ossenfort wheeled and dealed twice in the front end of the first round to eventually land offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. and a package of draft picks.

But the same art of Ossenfort’s organizational skills, in some ways, were expressed in this latest Thursday of the draft. The general manager just boiled down some goals into three bullet-points, and moved on with his evening without making a trade.

Ossenfort chose to use the No. 4 pick instead of trading down for potentially more selections.

It was a different strategy from his first season with the club, when the Cardinals started with the No. 3 overall selection but made multiple trades on draft night before settling on the No. 6 pick, which was used to select Johnson.

Johnson — who also played at Ohio State — started all 17 games at right tackle last season. Harrison said the two have texted back and forth over the past few months, excited about the possibility of playing together.

Harrison should also have an immediate impact, especially considering the Cardinals lack of elite receivers.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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