While their draft slots were apart by 51, albeit in different years, there is one thing similar about Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and tight end Trey McBride.
Harrison was selected fourth overall this year and was the first wide receiver to go off the board.
While McBride lasted until the 55th choice in the second round in 2022, he was also the first at his position to be picked in that draft.
That doesn’t mean everything will be great immediately when adjusting to the NFL game no matter how many wish it were so.
Surely, the expectations are heightened for players chosen as high as Harrison, but where you’re picked doesn’t matter a lick when it comes to mastering the nuances of the NFL and getting on the same page as your quarterback when you’re a pass-catcher.
Without saying it, head coach Jonathan Gannon might have proffered a clue to why Harrison hasn’t taken the league by storm when he was talking about McBride Friday.
Especially when both Harrison and Murray alluded to having to get on the same page as each other in the offense.
Murray was asked Wednesday that even though Harrison has seven touchdown receptions, how much upside does he think is still left in his game and your connection, and how can you maximize it a little bit more?
Murray quickly emphasized, “A lot. A lot. That’s exciting and also frustrating when it comes to both of our expectations for each other together. Rookie year, you’re trying to get better each and every week. But I’m not in his mind. That’s where the communication comes from and what he’s thinking, what he’s feeling, what he’s seeing, allowing the game to slow down.
“But there’s also an element of what he’s getting in the room versus what Kyler wants. We’ve just got to get on the same page. We’ve just got to continue to get on the same page, continue to allow him to play fast.”
As for McBride, when Murray was asked about him getting 15 targets and catching 12 in Week 12 for 133 yards against the Seahawks, he had a three-word answer. “He was open.”
Last Sunday, McBride caught all 12 of his targets for 96 yards, so he has 24 receptions on 27 targets for 229 yards in the last two games.
Meanwhile, Harrison was targeted 12 times against the Vikings, but caught only five. For the season, he has 41 receptions on 78 targets (52.6 percent).
McBride has 32 more catches on only 14 more targets. His receptions/targets percentage is 79.3.
We all have to ask ourselves: Does it appear as if Harrison is consistently getting open that often? The answer seems to be no. Or is part of it Murray not totally where Harrison will be on each play.
Yes, defenses play Harrison differently than McBride, but the numbers should be better than 3.4 receptions per game. That projects to 58 for the season.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell revealed after Sunday’s game about McBride, “I told him pregame — he came up to me pregame and said really nice things to me. I said, ‘Hey, man, I think you’re one of the best going right now in the NFL’ because he does it so many different ways. I think that’s where you saw the volume come into play today where maybe they want to be ready for pressure looks and things like that. At the same time, he’s essentially on many of those downs acting as the third wide receiver underneath; catch and run. Tons of yards after catch.
“When you really study them on tape, they’re designing ways to get him the ball, and he’s also a really good blocker. So it can really be a tough task as a defense because you’ve got to basically account for the whole playbook when he’s in there, based upon his skill-set. Really, really special player. I told him that before the game. I was kind of hoping he’d go easier on us than he did, which he did not. He was incredibly impactful today.”
So, let’s get to what Gannon said Friday that elicited this analysis while remembering issues there were at times between McBride and Murray last season when they weren’t on the same page. Read it and be thinking also about Harrison.
Asked where McBride has gotten better and if he has elevated his game, Gannon said, “Yeah. You guys watch the tape (not like coaches, of course!). Where he really has elevated his game is route detail. Just certain routes I think he’s gotten a lot better at running. There’s no indecision with the quarterback. How he’s gonna come out of things, when he’s gonna give him his eyes. That takes time. As good as he was last year, we sat down and said, ‘Hey, how do you become a better player?’
“One of the top things was just route detail. When I talk about detail guys, it’s like fourth outside step instead of fifth outside step. It’s minute (mi-noot). When you do those little things correctly, consistently, you should become a better player if we identified it right. He took it to heart. Ben’s (tight ends coach Ben Steele) done a really good job with him and he’s doing better.”
He surely is. And in time, Harrison will too.
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