Marvin Harrison Jr. has not had the start to his career that many expected when he entered the NFL. His rookie season was nowhere near bad; it just wasn’t at the level of expectations placed on him. What really mattered was year 2, and instead of taking that step forward, there was regression.
Drops and struggles in the offense became a consistent factor of Harrison Jr.’s game in 2025, and it seems like nothing has changed.
Confidence Is Key, and Marvin Harrison Jr. May Be Missing That
There’s a reason why the Arizona Cardinals are expected to get the first pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. The team is not built to win games, and they are beginning their rebuild. But even with that happening, expectations are still high for their former fourth overall pick. Harrison Jr. must show the Cardinals and the rest of the NFL that he can be an elite pass catcher this season, but already in training camp, that future is in doubt.
So far, Harrison Jr. has struggled, and videos of drops keep coming out. Drops are not a talent issue; they are a focus and confidence issue. The good news is that it can be fixed; the bad news is that these issues are becoming consistent for Harrison Jr. Confidence is so important in any sport, and once an athlete loses that, it can get ugly.
On that point of confidence, “The PHNX Cardinals Podcast!” cited that as a clear issue for Harrison Jr. and how that is a newer problem that has occurred after his rookie season:
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“Unfortunately, this is a continuation of maybe the confidence problem that we saw a year ago,” Johnny Venerable said. “It’s funny because we talked about it on our live show. Like, I don’t remember Marv dropping passes as a rookie. I really do feel like this is something that’s manifested over the last 12-18 months, and I think it’s a confidence thing, honestly.
“Maybe it’s a confidence with lack thereof with the offense, maybe it’s the pressure in year 3. I mean, like, he doesn’t look as comfortable as you would assume the former fourth overall pick should look.”
Venerable continued, “But with that being said, and you’ve outlined this (talking to cohost Bo Brack), he has plays where you’re like, ‘Man, he looks great.’ He burnt Sean Murphy-Bunting in team 11 on 11 on Sunday’s practice; we’ve got the footage of it.
“He’s had a couple of instances on Tuesday’s practice where he’s running wide open, he does make the play. It can’t cost the Cardinals games… that being said, I think he’s going to work through this, and I think he has the right HC and playcaller now in the infrastructure to be able to help him more so than what we saw from Drew Petzing a year ago.”
Clearly, as the above video mentioned, there have been struggles from Harrison Jr. that can be attributed to confidence, especially with the pressure he faced last season. The young WR finished 42nd overall in PFN’s WR Impact Metric, which is not good enough. But Venerable also mentioned the good plays that are being made.
There’s evidence that Harrison Jr. can make the big plays and be a great WR in the league, but without that confidence, that really doesn’t matter. Consistency needs to be the first step before becoming a star, and this season is going to be a massive test for Harrison Jr. to see if he can do that.
