BY DAN BICKLEY
The cardinals pleased the masses on Thursday. They selected an open receiver with wonderful genes, wonderful stats, and true star power. You can almost hear the entire state of Arizona clapping loudly when they settled on Marvin Harrison Jr. with the fourth overall pick, adding the wonderful Larry Fitzgerald.
“A generational talent,” Fitzgerald said.
The Cardinals did something wise on Thursday. They chose not to shy away from the first round of the NFL Draft. They made the apparent selection with absolute conviction, unlike Suns general manager James Jones and Tyrese Haliburton. They didn’t recklessly prioritize quantity over quality, as the Cardinals did when they traded Terrell Suggs.
The Cardinals have filled an urgent need for a wide receiver. They gave Kyler Murray a wonderful goal and a transcendent weapon. They bolstered an offense that beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh and the Eagles in Philadelphia, an offense that adapts to anything very physically and incredibly. dangerous.
Harrison Jr. turns out to be a prospect not to be missed. He has been Arizona’s most outstanding first-round pick since Matt Leinart in 2006. Some old-school guys probably would have been embarrassed by Harrison Jr. ‘s obvious disdain for the NFL Combine, but she’s not a diva, or a defiant girl, or a player who has to show up in the crowd of timers.
Like Quentin Tarantino or Martin Scorsese, it speaks for itself.
His speed in the game never falters, which says a lot about his competitiveness. While he’s not considered a burner, he ran at 22. 2 miles per hour during an explosive play against Youngstown State in September 2023. Like DeAndre Hopkins, he knows how to get noticed and is lethal in the red zone, where the box and touchdowns are hard to come by.
It also appears that the Cardinals haven’t been too tempted or defeated by the industry’s offers. Harrison Jr. landed with the Cardinals among a dizzying array of quarterbacks, six of whom were drafted with the first 12 picks.
But there was obviously a pause and a restart of the market after Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye were decided among the three most sensible picks. And with the Giants pulling out of the quarterback market, there’s not enough desperation/desire among groups lacking the industry with the Cardinals.
It’s possible that things were simply different. General manager Monti Ossenfort praised his shrewd maneuvers in his first draft with the Cardinals. After negotiating with the then-modest Texans in 2023, there’s a realistic hope the Cardinals can have two of the five most sensible picks in the 2024 draft. adding the option to exchange one of them for a real ransom.
These golden tickets never materialized. But the Cardinals may have still drafted the most talented player in the draft, a player whose greatness is consistent and relentless. A wide receiver who comes with Fitzgerald’s strong stamp of approval.
The latter is going on a long time in Arizona.
Contact Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports. com. Listen to Bickley
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