When the Arizona Cardinals used the No. 4 overall pick on Marvin Harrison Jr. in the 2024 NFL Draft, the expectation was clear: the young receiver would bring the same brilliance to the NFL that made him such a standout at Ohio State. Instead, his early NFL journey has been far quieter than anticipated. Through two games of the 2026 season, Harrison has just one reception for 33 yards. It’s a remarkably modest start for a player drafted with such high expectations.

That slow beginning has now put Harrison under the microscope, with his recent performances drawing plenty of scrutiny online. But amid the noise surrounding the young wide receiver, he has at least one important voice in his corner. Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett has his back.

“I think that’s probably a better question for Marv [Marvin Harrison Jr.],” Brissett told the media during the Cardinals’ press conference when a reporter asked him if the noise around Harrison Jr. is louder than what he previously experienced at other franchises. “Is some of the noise justified? I don’t think so, personally. I mean, we just signed Michael [Wilson] for $25 million, and nobody’s complaining about him having two catches.

“You gotta try to find somewhere to make something out of nothing. The only thing you can do is just go out there and just continue to get better as a teammate of him and him as an individual. And I think that’s what we’re doing.”

Harrison is only playing his third season, returning to the gridiron after his 2025 campaign was cut short due to an appendectomy and injuries. He has so far tallied 1,526 yards and 12 touchdowns, and finished second among Cardinals pass catchers with an impressive 885 yards as a rookie receiver. That promise could not be delivered in 2025, but the lack of numbers in 2026 has created doubts about his ceiling.

Harrison has only been targeted four times in the last two games. Tight end Trey McBride has the most targets, and running backs Jeremiyah Love and Tyler Allgeier have more targets than Harrison. Michael Wilson is currently second in targets, having 14 of them.

Brissett’s comparison was meant to contextualize early-season struggles across the roster, not to criticize Wilson personally.

Wilson, drafted a year before Harrison, established a lead over the latter when he missed time in 2025, finishing with 1,006 receiving yards. That momentum seems to have carried over this season as well. However, according to Brissett, the wideout is in no way slacking off.

“Nobody’s lost confidence in Marv,” Brissett further noted. “The hard part as a young player is the noise from the outside, telling you what they expect from you and things of that nature. Does Marv want the ball? Yes. Do we understand that he wants the ball? Yes. But is it only Week 2? Yes.”

Even head coach Mike LaFleur defended Harrison from public scrutiny. When the media asked him about Harrison struggling to find the ball against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1, LaFleur refused to follow the public narrative.

“Marv seems like Marv to me,” LaFleur said. “I’m not gonna sit here and act like I don’t know the narrative going on. This is the league and, naturally, stuff gets across my desk. But in between those walls, Marv is Marv. He’s attacking it every single day like he always does, just like his teammates do. I appreciate the way he goes about his business.”

Harrison is focusing on what matters!

Meanwhile, Harrison admitted that he had a slow start in the 2026 season. But it’s only been two weeks. He still has many more weeks to prove himself on the gridiron. 

“I understand who I am and what I was expected to do when I got drafted here and all the expectations that were put on me,” Harrison said. “People want certain production. So when that’s not happening, everybody’s going to ask questions or try to figure out why or a reason.” 

Harrison further revealed that his route tree depends on multiple factors. It needs the right coverage, protection, route, and Brissett to make the right pass. He admitted that a miss is never really one single individual’s fault. 

The NFL community may already be panicking over Harrison’s slow start. But the Cardinals seem to know better. After all, he has quite some time to turn the 2026 season’s narrative around.