Arizona Cardinals will draft Marvin Harrison Jr. in 2024 no matter what

We may be just under 11 months from the 2024 NFL Draft, but the Arizona Cardinals have the biggest power play of the 32 teams next April.

While many analysts around the league believe the Arizona Cardinals will finish with a paltry three to four wins (or less), my projections and the simulator I ran through PFF stated the team will win eight and nine games, respectively. 

Yeah, that’s quite a run down the untaken path, but what I’m getting at is, anything can happen when the games begin. There is always that one team slated to be terrible that comes out of nowhere to play far better than projected, and the Cardinals can easily be that team in 2023. 

If that’s the case, and if the Houston Texans are (again) bad enough to warrant a top five draft pick, then the Cardinals odds of finding DeAndre Hopkins’ successor in Marvin Harrison Jr. just skyrocketed. But consider this scenario: What if the Cards AND the Texans play better than expected?

Then the Cardinals still land Marvin Harrison. How? Keep reading to find out. 

The Arizona Cardinals could inevitably select Marvin Harrison Jr.

Case in point, the Arizona Cardinals own two first round picks and a plethora of selections behind it. This gives them the opportunity to mortgage a few of those selections to another team, allowing them to trade up and snag Harrison with a top five pick. 

You may not like this decision, however, believing the Cards should use both of their respective picks to keep adding to their young core. But if this team finishes with at least seven wins, which is the case in this particular scenario, it shows they were much farther ahead than everyone initially thought. 

Therefore, it would make sense to trade up and draft the best player on the board in Harrison. In short, it calls for a Carolina Panthers type of scenario, where they could trade up, likely to the third pick since the top two teams will likely take Drake Maye and Caleb Williams should they enter the draft.

So if the Cards finish 3-14, then they will likely take Harrison with their top pick unless they wish to move on from Kyler Murray. But if Murray surprised us all, or if Clayton Tune enjoyed an outstanding season despite the poor record, then Harrison is their guy. 

If they finish with a record closer to 0.500, then Harrison is still their guy as they would only need to trade up and snag him. Overall, if the Arizona Cardinals want Harrison, they are in an outstanding position to get him regardless of their final record. 

Source: Stars Already Aligning for Cardinals to Draft Marvin Harrison Jr. by Richie Bradshaw, SI.com