Josh Dooley
Guest
Marvin Harrison Jr. is WR1 in the 2024 NFL Draft; don’t overthink it
Josh Dooley via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Brooke LaValley / USA TODAY NETWORK
After two plus years atop the WR rankings, Maserati Marv is now being viewed as a consolation prize by some... All because he didn’t run in shorts and/or sit down for a couple interviews? Get real, people. Ball don’t lie.
Heading into the 2022 Rose Bowl, Marvin Harrison Jr. was a relative unknown, albeit one with a very famous name in football circles. Then/there, with a single three-touchdown performance – his first but certainly not his last – he established himself as a burgeoning star and presumptive WR1 in the 2024 or 2025 NFL Draft. There was really no argument to the contrary. At the time, at least. Harrison Jr. (MHJ) became predestined if that’s even possible.
The following season, when Jaxon Smith-Njigba went down with history’s worst hamstring injury, MHJ went out and confirmed or solidified said WR1 status. The latter was simply unguardable in 2022, even with the lion’s share of opponents’ attention focused solely on him. Seriously, just go back and watch the Penn State game, when MHJ was the only “thing” really working for Ohio State’s offense — and he still beat Joey Porter Jr. (repeatedly) like a drum. Or the 2022 Peach Bowl, when Georgia’s vaunted defense had no answers for MHJ... Until a questionable (clearly illegal) hit knocked him out of the game.
In 2023 we saw more of the same. Despite being saddled with average quarterback play, MHJ still dominated on a weekly basis. His stats weren’t quite as good, but he single-handedly won games for OSU. He also caught at least one TD in 10/12 games played and put up 100+ receiving yards eight times.
Throughout the entire process... the entirety of the last two football seasons... MHJ remained WR1. At times he was even being talked about as the potential first overall pick. Yet here we are in April of 2024, just a few weeks before the NFL Draft, and all of a sudden MHJ’s candidacy, standing, or status as WR1 is being questioned.
Thanks to a highly productive 2023 season and a phenomenal pro day, Malik Nabers has now entered that conversation. And don’t get me wrong, Nabers is an electric athlete with tremendous potential. But what are we doing here, folks!? Why are NFL people and talent evaluators overthinking this?
I’ll tell you why: Because as is typically the case, the months preceding this year’s NFL Draft have once again devolved into #sillyszn. There are no games being played, causing many coaches, GMs, and front-office folks to fall into the trap of becoming enamored with curated highlight tapes and drills ran against air.
But Nabers has not been playing football at a higher level than MHJ. The former has not been cooking defensive backs off the line and/or making contested catches in pads, with defenders draped all over him. Nobody has! Unless we’re talking about spring practice (college) or the UFL. But even then, my point remains: No WR is or has been outperforming MHJ on a football field... Other than maybe Jeremiah Smith (insert smiley wink face).
Regardless, the narrative seems to have changed. It’s almost as if one of the story’s main characters has been written out or demoted in some way, despite being essential to the plot! It’s like Nabers is the newly minted Batman (WR1), while MHJ has been relegated to a Robin-esque supporting role. Which is absolute blasphemy. So I am here to remind people (as if he needs my help) that nothing has actually changed... MHJ is still Batman!
MHJ is still 6-foot-4, 205ish pounds, with elite footwork, vise-like hands, and the body control of a Cirque du Soleil performer. He also works his tail off and has an NFL Hall of Fame father in his ear/corner at all times. In other words, he is the total package. The same total package that earned him WR1 recognition in the first place! Just take NFL Draft analyst Rob Rang’s word for it, from December of 2023:
Ultimately, Harrison is a rare blue-chip talent because of his physical talent, Hall of Fame pedigree and walk-on’s work ethic. He appears to be as sure of an NFL superstar as it gets and therefore well worthy of a top-5 selection. Any of the teams selecting that early (which as of today project as Chicago, the Arizona Cardinals, Washington Commanders, New England Patriots and New York Giants) would be lucky to add him, with the latter two especially intriguing fits due to their relative dearth of receiving talent.
Oddly enough, it seems that MHJ’s refusal to thoroughly participate in the pre-draft dog and pony show has (potentially) negatively impacted his draft stock the most, not his performance on the field. But if anything, MHJ should be commended for focusing on football and not a 40-yard dash in shorts, which he will never do/run in an NFL game. Putting too much stock in combine testing just ensures that you’ll end up with a guy like this:
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Sam Greene, The Northwestern via Imagn Content Services, LLC
And as for those pesky combine interviews, what do teams need to know? Every answer given in that type of environment is prepared and/or scripted ahead of time. If you want to find out what makes MHJ tick, just ask his coaches and teammates, all of whom have done nothing but praise the guy since he was a coveted high school recruit.
As the saying goes, “Keep it simple, stupid.” And I would encourage NFL decision-makers to do exactly that if they are targeting a WR in the top 5 of this year’s draft. If MHJ was the guy a year ago and a month(ish) ago, why deviate from the plan now? Because some other guy ran real fast and made a few sick catches (thrown by his teammate of two years and a top-5 pick in his own right) in a near-empty fieldhouse?
Get outta here. Marvin Harrison Jr. is still WR1 because another saying rings true, and it always will: “Ball don’t lie.”
Continue reading...
Josh Dooley via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Brooke LaValley / USA TODAY NETWORK
After two plus years atop the WR rankings, Maserati Marv is now being viewed as a consolation prize by some... All because he didn’t run in shorts and/or sit down for a couple interviews? Get real, people. Ball don’t lie.
Heading into the 2022 Rose Bowl, Marvin Harrison Jr. was a relative unknown, albeit one with a very famous name in football circles. Then/there, with a single three-touchdown performance – his first but certainly not his last – he established himself as a burgeoning star and presumptive WR1 in the 2024 or 2025 NFL Draft. There was really no argument to the contrary. At the time, at least. Harrison Jr. (MHJ) became predestined if that’s even possible.
The following season, when Jaxon Smith-Njigba went down with history’s worst hamstring injury, MHJ went out and confirmed or solidified said WR1 status. The latter was simply unguardable in 2022, even with the lion’s share of opponents’ attention focused solely on him. Seriously, just go back and watch the Penn State game, when MHJ was the only “thing” really working for Ohio State’s offense — and he still beat Joey Porter Jr. (repeatedly) like a drum. Or the 2022 Peach Bowl, when Georgia’s vaunted defense had no answers for MHJ... Until a questionable (clearly illegal) hit knocked him out of the game.
In 2023 we saw more of the same. Despite being saddled with average quarterback play, MHJ still dominated on a weekly basis. His stats weren’t quite as good, but he single-handedly won games for OSU. He also caught at least one TD in 10/12 games played and put up 100+ receiving yards eight times.
Throughout the entire process... the entirety of the last two football seasons... MHJ remained WR1. At times he was even being talked about as the potential first overall pick. Yet here we are in April of 2024, just a few weeks before the NFL Draft, and all of a sudden MHJ’s candidacy, standing, or status as WR1 is being questioned.
Thanks to a highly productive 2023 season and a phenomenal pro day, Malik Nabers has now entered that conversation. And don’t get me wrong, Nabers is an electric athlete with tremendous potential. But what are we doing here, folks!? Why are NFL people and talent evaluators overthinking this?
I’ll tell you why: Because as is typically the case, the months preceding this year’s NFL Draft have once again devolved into #sillyszn. There are no games being played, causing many coaches, GMs, and front-office folks to fall into the trap of becoming enamored with curated highlight tapes and drills ran against air.
But Nabers has not been playing football at a higher level than MHJ. The former has not been cooking defensive backs off the line and/or making contested catches in pads, with defenders draped all over him. Nobody has! Unless we’re talking about spring practice (college) or the UFL. But even then, my point remains: No WR is or has been outperforming MHJ on a football field... Other than maybe Jeremiah Smith (insert smiley wink face).
Regardless, the narrative seems to have changed. It’s almost as if one of the story’s main characters has been written out or demoted in some way, despite being essential to the plot! It’s like Nabers is the newly minted Batman (WR1), while MHJ has been relegated to a Robin-esque supporting role. Which is absolute blasphemy. So I am here to remind people (as if he needs my help) that nothing has actually changed... MHJ is still Batman!
MHJ is still 6-foot-4, 205ish pounds, with elite footwork, vise-like hands, and the body control of a Cirque du Soleil performer. He also works his tail off and has an NFL Hall of Fame father in his ear/corner at all times. In other words, he is the total package. The same total package that earned him WR1 recognition in the first place! Just take NFL Draft analyst Rob Rang’s word for it, from December of 2023:
Ultimately, Harrison is a rare blue-chip talent because of his physical talent, Hall of Fame pedigree and walk-on’s work ethic. He appears to be as sure of an NFL superstar as it gets and therefore well worthy of a top-5 selection. Any of the teams selecting that early (which as of today project as Chicago, the Arizona Cardinals, Washington Commanders, New England Patriots and New York Giants) would be lucky to add him, with the latter two especially intriguing fits due to their relative dearth of receiving talent.
Oddly enough, it seems that MHJ’s refusal to thoroughly participate in the pre-draft dog and pony show has (potentially) negatively impacted his draft stock the most, not his performance on the field. But if anything, MHJ should be commended for focusing on football and not a 40-yard dash in shorts, which he will never do/run in an NFL game. Putting too much stock in combine testing just ensures that you’ll end up with a guy like this:
And as for those pesky combine interviews, what do teams need to know? Every answer given in that type of environment is prepared and/or scripted ahead of time. If you want to find out what makes MHJ tick, just ask his coaches and teammates, all of whom have done nothing but praise the guy since he was a coveted high school recruit.
As the saying goes, “Keep it simple, stupid.” And I would encourage NFL decision-makers to do exactly that if they are targeting a WR in the top 5 of this year’s draft. If MHJ was the guy a year ago and a month(ish) ago, why deviate from the plan now? Because some other guy ran real fast and made a few sick catches (thrown by his teammate of two years and a top-5 pick in his own right) in a near-empty fieldhouse?
Get outta here. Marvin Harrison Jr. is still WR1 because another saying rings true, and it always will: “Ball don’t lie.”
Continue reading...