The Cardinals hold the fourth overall pick in the draft. It’s likely that three quarterbacks will be taken before they’re on the clock. When Arizona is up, could that be where Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. goes?
According to former Buckeye teammate Paris Johnson Jr., that’s where Harrison wants to go.
The folks at LarryBrownSports.com spotted a recent interview of Johnson, the team’s first-round pick in 2023, in which Johnson explains that he wants Harrison on the Cardinals — and that Harrison wants to play for the Cardinals.
“I literally went to Marvin and was like, ‘Dude, you know you’re a Cardinal, right?’” Johnson said on the Cardinals Corner podcast. “I knew he was going to be a Cardinal because I saw what happened with [DeAndre Hopkins]. I’m like, the Cardinals are probably going to want another six-four receiver. So I’m like, dude, I have a feeling, you’re probably going to be a Cardinal. He said he wanted to be a Cardinal.”
The real question is whether the Cardinals have to stay at four to get him, or whether they can trade down and still land the player who might or might not be the first receiver drafted. Chris Simms has Harrison at No. 3. As recently explained, it could be risky for a General Manger to take LSU’s Malik Nabers before Harrison, especially with Harrison not adding a 40-yard dash time to the list of objective pre-draft facts.
It would be risky for the Cardinals to fall behind the Chargers at No. 5, since they clearly need a receiver after trading Keenan Allen to the Bears and cutting Malik Williams.
That’s part of the fun of the draft, for those on the outside. It’s part of the agony for those in it. How early is too early to take a player? Can you get him later? What happens if you try to do that and someone else gets him?
Harrison could make it known to interested teams that he’s not interested in playing for any team other than Arizona. Whether other teams would respect that is a different issue. After all, it’s an honor and a privilege to be told where you’re going to live and work for the next four or five or even six years — even if you prefer to have the freedom to live and work somewhere else.
