Marvin Harrison Jr. Going To Texans In First Big Trade Of 2026 Season

The first big name traded during the NFL season: Marvin Harrison Jr. The Arizona Cardinals have reportedly agreed to send Harrison to the Houston Texans, according to ESPN. Houston is sending second- and sixth-round picks in the 2027 draft in exchange for Harrison and Arizona's seventh next year. It was reported on Saturday morning that a deal involving Harrison was close. FOX's Jay Glazer explained the delay in finalizing it on Sunday morning. "Here's what Arizona's looking for: They put the word out yesterday, they're hoping that some other team — maybe someone goes down or someone gets really desperate for a wide receiver — and they come up to their asking price of a second-round pick. But [Harrison] wasn't even at the team meeting last night. His time in Arizona is over." Well, Houston won on Sunday to get to 1-4 and apparently finalized the trade after it beat the Titans. The Texans are three games back of the 4-1 Jaguars in the AFC South. Only one other team has started the season 0-4 and made the playoff: the 1992 San Diego Chargers. With the Texans, Harrison will be reunited with a former teammate at Ohio State: quarterback C.J. Stroud. The Cardinals selected Harrison with the No. 4 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft after the wide receiver put together a decorated career with the Ohio State Buckeyes. A two-time All-American, Harrison led the Big Ten in receiving touchdowns in both 2022 and 2023 (14 scores in both years) and both receiving yards (1,211) and yards per reception (18.1) in 2023, a year that saw him finish fourth in Heisman Trophy voting. However, Harrison's stint with the Cardinals did not live up to the hype. After a 2024 rookie campaign that saw Harrison total 62 receptions for 885 yards and eight touchdowns, he logged 41 receptions for 608 yards and four scores in 2025. Harrison played in only 12 games in 2025 due to an illness and a heel injury. In Arizona's first four games this season, Harrison had just five receptions for 85 yards and one touchdown. Last week, former NFL star wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh told our Eric D. Williams that he thinks Harrison should request a trade from the Cardinals in order to restart his career. "I believe that’s the best thing for him, is just getting a fresh start somewhere else," Houshmandzadeh said. "I don’t believe the Cardinals look at him as that generational player that he was when they drafted him. If they did, he would be involved in the offense."