Draft SZN is probably too long. The scouting process obviously goes all year long, but having only one week of NFL news distraction between early February and late April is how silly decisions get made. Take, for instance, the Cardinals – Arizona has the fourth pick in this year's draft, and for the vast majority of the time, the projected best player available at four has been Marvin Harrison Jr. The star Ohio State wide receiver is one of the better prospects in the past few years, and would give Kyler Murray his best wide receiver since DeAndre Hopkins.
And yet, over the last few weeks, people's wide receiver rankings started changing. And with the news that he won't work out at a Pro Day, some Cardinals fans are worried about how likely it really is that they take him next April.
Confirmed that Marvin Harrison Jr. told Cardinals of his plan not to work out at his Pro Day unless the team said they wanted to see something or wanted him to. They were fine with him continuing to work out at Ohio State to prepare for football rather than drills/timing.
— Howard Balzer (@HBalzer721) March 20, 2024
And while Harrison's choice to avoid working out at Ohio State's pro day has some weird optics to it, it sounds like 1. The Cardinals were on board with the plan, and 2. he definitely would have it it was really an issue with Arizona. Even still, there does seem to be a changing view on Harrison right now, though – while speaking to a sports radio show in Chicago on Wednesday morning, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio did mention that some teams may not have him as their WR1.
Marvin Harrison Jr. isn't working out at Ohio State's pro day.
— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) March 20, 2024
Perhaps that's because he had something to lose, @ProFootballTalk surmised — his stature as the No. 1 WR.
"I'm starting to hear teams don't have Harrison as No. 1," Florio says.
Listen: https://t.co/nz0Eu1DYIT pic.twitter.com/yqgw7hkqDV
"I'm starting to hear that teams don't have Harrison as number one," he said. "And if the issue is that he can't run past the defensive backs – what if he runs a 4.6 40? – And I don't know if he would run a 4.6 40, but nobody knows because he's not running the 40. So in his case, this may not necessarily be 'I have nothing to gain,' but 'I may have something to lose,' if this idea that he can't run past defensive backs takes root, with a 40 time that maybe isn't as good as it needs to be. There may be something strategic to it."
Outside of just being a very confusing explanation from Florio, that line of reasoning sounds a lot like nitpicking a decision just because it's been made for so long already. It doesn't seem like Harrison's a total lock to go at 4 anymore, but it's not quite at "Cardinals fan panic" levels. This isn't the first time a player's done something like this, and won't be the last. But yeah, late April can't get here soon enough.