Josh Kendall and Chad Graff of The Athletic released their Week 15 power rankings on Tuesday, along with the worst-case scenario for each team.
The two writers clocked the Arizona Cardinals in as the No. 27 team, ranking them ahead of both New York teams, Tennessee, Cleveland, and Las Vegas. A justified placement, as the Cardinals have now dropped five consecutive games. They are coming off a game where they were routed at home by the Los Angeles Rams, 45–17.
Arizona fell one spot from the week prior, where they sat at No. 26. Since their last win, which came during Week 9 against the Dallas Cowboys, the Cardinals have fallen seven spots in the power rankings.
In Week 15’s edition, the worst-case scenario isn’t one that Cardinals fans want to hear, as it has to do with their former first-round pick. Kendall and Graff called out the fact that Marvin Harrison Jr. may be a bust.
“The No. 4 pick in the 2024 draft missed another game Sunday. He hasn’t had a 100-yard game all season and has only two in his career. He has 40 receptions this year. Meanwhile, 2023 third-rounder Michael Wilson had 36 catches for 445 yards in just the three games Harrison has missed this year due to injury. Wilson had 11 for 142 and two touchdowns Sunday.”
These comments would be far-fetched for anyone else, but if you come out of college with “generational talent” claims next to your name, you best believe you need to produce.
The 23-year-old missed Week 14 with a heel injury that he suffered the week prior, but that has not been the only instance where Harrison has missed time.
Ahead of Arizona’s Week 11 matchup at home against the San Francisco 49ers, Harrison underwent an appendectomy and missed not only the matchup against their NFC West rival, but also the following week when the team lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars in overtime.
While Harrison’s absence has led to the breakout of Michael Wilson, the team’s No. 2 wide receiver and third-round pick from 2023, it goes without saying that Harrison has not quite lived up to the expectations stamped on him out of college.
Harrison’s status ahead of Sunday remains in limbo, but that is because it is only Tuesday. We will learn more as the week rolls on and the team takes to the practice field. But as of now, the Cardinals have nowhere to go but up.