ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans' deal for receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. made waves through the NFL world over the weekend in one of the more surprising trades made in quite some time.
Harrison's departure from Arizona isn't at all surprising — things clearly weren't working with the former No. 4 overall pick and he had previously hired agents to help navigate a deal earlier in the week.
However, the timing threw practically everybody off. A big-name player such as Harrison was offloaded, at least in public eyes, quickly. The Cardinals made Harrison inactive on Saturday morning, and by time their Week 5 contest kicked off, Harrison was on the move to Houston.
SI.com's Albert Breer added the trade process began weeks ago.
"The Cardinals asked around for a second-round pick plus a sweetener. Houston, over the 24 hours leading into kickoff Sunday, wound up coming around on that, ending an interesting process that ended Harrison’s two-plus years in Arizona," he wrote.
"It actually began weeks ago, with the No. 4 pick from the 2024 draft deciding to hire an agent to handle his situation, bringing in veterans Todd France and Tory Dandy of Athletes First.
"Quietly, the groundwork was laid for Harrison’s exit, starting then. The writing had been on the wall with the team’s decision to extend another young receiver, Michael Wilson, to pair long-term with big-money tight end Trey McBride. It had to stay that way for Arizona to get the type of return that would motivate the team to move Harrison. And things heated up over the course of the weekend, with the Texans’ effort to reunite Harrison with Stroud, his teammate at Ohio State."
Harrison, Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur and general manager Monti Ossenfort did a strong job of collectively downplaying the noise while the workings of the trade were happening. All three parties, to varying extents, shot down trade rumors through the last few weeks.
Even after the deal was complete, figures such as LaFleur and Ossenfort didn't dive deep into the reasons for a trade.
“Decisions like this are never easy,” said Ossenfort in a statement after terms became final.
“Ultimately, we have to do what is best for our football team and that will always be the driving factor. We are extremely grateful to Marvin for what he has contributed to our organization and wish him the very best as he moves forward in his career.”
LaFleur, speaking after the loss to the Lions, added, "I'm not going to totally get into that right now. I really like Marvin Harrison. He's a good person. I wish him well. We did what we thought was in the best interest of the Cardinals. Any guy that does not play to the level that I feel like they're capable of, I'm always going to put that on me and coaching in general."
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