Just In: NFL Cardinals finally trade wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr for $60 million…
Elusive to pin down at NFL combine, Marvin Harrison Jr.’s resume speaks for itself
Portrait of Bob McManaman
Arizona Republic
Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (18) looks on during the second half against the Missouri Tigers at AT&T Stadium.
INDIANAPOLIS — The blue riser at Podium No. 4 here at the NFL scouting combine was reserved for Marvin Harrison Jr. At 8:20 a.m. on Friday the former Ohio State wide receiver was scheduled to meet the news media for a 15-20 minute interview session.
Except he never showed up.
Eventually, a media coordinator removed Harrison’s nameplate from the dais and replaced it with one for former North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye. The coordinator said Harrison wasn’t available, offering no other details, and said he was unsure if Harrison would speak later or not at all.
Maye did. And shortly afterward, so did former USC quarterback Caleb Williams, the presumptive No. 1 overall pick when the NFL draft rolls around on April 25. Podium No. 4 saw a lot of action on Friday. Wide receiver Malik Nabers from LSU spoke after Williams and later, Nabers’ teammate, wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., also met with reporters.
But no Harrison.
Cris Carter, the former longtime NFL receiver and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, posted on social media that Harrison was meeting with medical people and getting “a body scan,” adding to anxious media folks to “Relax.”
Hours passed. There was no official response or even an update from anyone at the NFL.
Like Williams, Harrison informed NFL teams he wouldn’t be participating in any on-field workouts or drills here this week. But Williams, expected to go first overall to the Bears, met with reporters for his scheduled interview session. He also met privately with teams.
Why wouldn’t Harrison, who is widely believed to go No. 4 overall to the Cardinals? All sorts of whispers were floating around here on Friday. Social media was full of posts suggesting it was a red flag that he missed his scheduled interview session, some worrying it might drop his draft status.
Harrison might be the best overall prospect in this entire draft class. He’s certainly the top non-quarterback. Yes, he chose not to run the 40-yard dash, run routes with other wideouts or get his vertical leap measured. And for whatever reason, he didn’t talk with reporters.
The Cardinals, though, know full well what they’d be getting in the elite, 6-foot-3, 209-pound superstar. A two-time All American, Harrison became the first wide receiver in Ohio State history to record two 1,000-yard receiving seasons. He had 14 touchdowns receptions each of the past two years.
He won the Fred Biletnikoff Award last season as the nation’s most outstanding wideout and he’s drawn comparisons to the Cardinals’ greatest receiver ever — future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald.
“Marvin’s been a great player,” Cardinals General Manager Monti Ossenfort said earlier this week at the combine. “He’s been a productive player these last couple years. It’s a strong receiver draft, it is. There’s good players at the top of the draft, there’s good depth throughout the mid rounds.
“I really don’t want to get into an individual scouting report right now. All I can tell you is we’ve done a lot of work on Marvin, just like we have in the rest of the draft, and we’re excited to continue to work him here through the process for the next couple months.”
Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon knows exactly what Harrison is and can be in the same offense as Kyler Murray, Arizona’s two-time Pro Bowl quarterback.
“Playmaker. Playmaker,” Gannon repeated. “Anytime he touches it he can score points. That’s the name of the game — score one more point than the other team. I need to watch some more, but he’s a playmaker.”