The Houston Texans not only got their first win Sunday, they also consummated a trade that sends a direct signal to their players that this season is not over – despite their 1-4 start.
Shortly after a resounding 26-3 pasting of the Tennessee Titans, Houston’s former team, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans concluded his postgame press conference by confirming the acquisition of WR Marvin Harrison Jr. from the Arizona Cardinals. It’s a bold gambit for the Texans, who gave up a second-round pick in next year’s highly anticipated draft to get the deal over the finish line. But H-Town might also be the right spot for a player who’s disappointed in his two-plus NFL seasons to date.
The winners and losers of the rare deal signaled on a Sunday:
WINNERS
Marvin Harrison Jr.
The fourth overall pick of the 2024 draft has yet to live up to his advance billing, yet to catch 70 passes in a season nor surpass 900 receiving yards. “MHJ” has been virtually invisible this year, totaling just five receptions for 85 yards and a TD in four appearances for Arizona. But now he gets a much-needed fresh start with a team that’s reached the playoffs in each of the previous three seasons – and is reunited with his college QB.
C.J. Stroud
Houston’s quarterback, who is playing for a long-term extension but has been playing with a stripped-down wideout corps – particularly when Pro Bowler Nico Collins has been out of the lineup – now has his talented former Ohio State teammate back in the fold, and Harrison should have a golden opportunity to thrive here in the WR2 role behind Collins. Harrison caught 77 balls for 1,263 yards and 14 TDs in 2022 for the Buckeyes, when Stroud was throwing to him. Perhaps more important to Stroud and his teammates, this signals the front office's belief that this team is still capable of going on a run and an acknowledgment that a defense-skewed roster needs more help on the other side of the ball.
Monti Ossenfort
Arizona’s GM parlayed Harrison and a 2027 seventh-rounder into Round 2 and 6 picks in next year’s draft, quite a nice recovery for a player who underperformed as blatantly as Harrison did. Moving forward, Ossenfort can target a wideout replacement next year or perhaps bundle this pick should he need to move up for the quarterback target of his choice next spring − when the Cards will almost certainly be in the market for a potential new face of the franchise.
More: Marvin Harrison Jr. trade grades expose disaster deal for Texans
LOSERS
Monti Ossenfort
It's fair to wonder whether the Cards would have been better off taking Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr. in 2024 rather than Harrison at No. 4 (after Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye). If nothing else, Ossenfort definitively missed at wideout given Malik Nabers was also on the board.
Nick Caserio
This is a bold – desperate? – roll of the dice by Houston’s EVP/GM, who paid a massive price for an unproven player … and might be obligated to pay even more. Harrison has 12 weeks to make a difference in Houston’s 2026 season and prove he was miscast or just part of a bad marriage with the Cardinals. If he doesn’t, Caserio has mortgaged a nice chunk of the Texans’ future – especially given the presumed quality and depth of next year’s draft. If Harrison does show signs of life – surely what Caserio and Co. are hoping for here – then Houston will be obligated to pick up the receiver's hefty fifth-year contract option next spring, which will add further strain to a salary cap already weighted down by some high-leverage contracts and yet to account for a likely Stroud extension.
Ohio State WR legacy
Reigning Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Emeka Egbuka, all first-round picks since 2022, have more than upheld the lofty pedigree of Buckeyes wideouts. Carnell Tate, the fourth overall pick by the Tennessee Titans earlier this year, is expected to join their ranks soon enough. But Harrison, anticipated by many draft observers to be the best of the bunch from recent years when he came out, has thus far unequivocally been the biggest disappointment and a bit of a flight on the Columbus wideout assembly line. (No, we don't expect it to impact the draft position of Jeremiah Smith in 2027. At all.)
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Marvin Harrison Jr. trade winners and losers include C.J. Stroud and Cardinals GM