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Arizona Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur shared his thoughts on how Marvin Harrison Jr. responded in the loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Coming into the 2026 season, the hope for the Arizona Cardinals lay in the skill players. In particular, some elite pass catchers, led by former No. 4 overall pick Marvin Harrison Jr., could bounce back from an injury-riddled season in 2025.
Through two weeks, that wasn’t the case. Harrison had 1 reception for 33 yards. That was on just 4 targets. Worse, Cardinals fans started to publicly question the effort he was putting in while blocking and running routes.
That did change a bit in Week 3. In a 36-30 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Harrison had 3 receptions for 40 yards. That made him the third-leading receiver on the team. Cardinals beat writer Theo Mackie added, “Per @FantasyPtsData, Marv was the first read on 15.2% of routes in Week 3, up from 4.5% in the first two weeks.” So, there was more of an effort to get him the ball by design, too.
It was a step forward for Harrison this season. At the same time, it still isn’t good enough for what the Cardinals need.
Arizona Cardinals HC Mike LaFleur on Marvin Harrison’s Performance
There is no doubt that Marvin Harrison still has room to improve. However, it would be disingenuous to say that the 49ers game wasn’t an improvement.
Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur knows that. On Monday, he made sure to praise Harrison for how he played.
“I thought he responded nice,” LaFleur said. “I thought again, he got to his spots. There were some opportunities in the intermediate again where he’s getting to his spots. So, I thought he did some nice stuff and I’m looking forward to getting back to working with him on Wednesday and continuing to grow.”
The criticism of how the Cardinals offense has struggled to get Harrison the ball has been loud. It’s his and LaFleur’s first year working together, and a lack of chemistry seems to be glaring right now.
Only one other time in Harrison’s career had he been targeted one or fewer times in the passing game. That was against the Cincinnati Bengals a season ago. That was a game he suffered an injury playing in.
The Cardinals Need More Explosive Plays
Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett has become a well-regarded backup during his career. However, he also has his limitations, particularly when forced into a starting role like he’s been in Arizona.
One of those is that he struggles to push the ball downfield. That’s led to the Cardinals becoming one of the more conservative offenses in football. It’s also part of why it’s been hard to get the ball to players like Marvin Harrison Jr.
Mike LaFleur knows that needs to change. Efficiency is good, but teams need to be explosive.
“It’s a real thing right now,” LaFleur said. “We’re three weeks in and we haven’t been extremely explosive. … We’ve done a pretty good job of staying efficient but man, at some point, we’ve gotta get a little more explosive.”
Brissett remains last in the NFL in average pass yards per completion, with just 5.6 yards. That amounts to a lot of checkdowns and safe throws. That keeps the ball out of harm’s way, but makes it harder to create.
Whether or not the passing game can find a way to better utilize its skill players remains to be seen. Next week will be an interesting test against the New York Giants.
Dan Morrison After graduating from UMass in 2019, Dan Morrison quickly began a career in sports journalism and digital media. That has seen him work both as a contributing writer at several publications, as well as spending time on the National News Desk at On3. During that time, he has spent the majority of his time covering football, both at the college and NFL levels. Currently residing in Central Florida, his focus with Heavy is on the NFL. More about Dan Morrison