Josh WeinfussNov 3, 2025, 06:00 AM ETCloseJosh Weinfuss is a staff writer who covers the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL at ESPN. Josh has covered the Cardinals since 2012, joining ESPN in 2013. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and a graduate of Indiana University.Follow on X
MNF Trailer: Cardinals vs. Cowboys (0:30)Get ready for “Monday Night Football” in Week 9, when the Cardinals travel to take on the Cowboys. (0:30)
Any time Marvin Harrison Sr. turns on his son’s games, he sees an NFL that looks vastly different from the sport he left in 2008 after playing 13 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. He sees a quarterback primarily in the shotgun, his son being moved around the field from wideout to the slot and back again, and motions from every direction.
He also sees a Cardinals offense that’s struggled to produce yards and points as it has slogged to a 2-5 record, heading into “Monday Night Football” on a five-game losing streak.
“It’s very hard for me to watch the Cardinals’ offense,” Harrison Sr. told ESPN. “And you can quote me on that.”
“The style of offense that I am accustomed to, that I’m used to watching as a professional eye, as a wide receiver … I just can’t relate to watching that [current] offense, that style of offense,” Harrison Sr. said. “Basically, I can’t relate to what goes on there.
“I think that’s just peacefully put, without pointing fingers or anything. It’s just me. I’m giving you the professional eye. I can’t relate to it. It don’t add up to me. I can’t deal with it.”
“I don’t get into what goes on the field and the things that I see,” Harrison Sr. said. “I just leave it alone. I don’t even bother bringing it up no more.”
That might be wise, considering the Cardinals’ struggles, especially in the passing game. They’re 23rd in passing yards per game at 199.9, 26th in passing yards per play at 5.78 and quarterback Kyler Murray is 24th in QBR at 44.1. Murray is ranked 29th in yards per attempt, 31st in yards per dropback and 33rd in yards per attempt while throwing six touchdowns and three picks in five starts.
Jacoby Brissett will start a third straight game in place of Murray (foot) on Monday, but it’s possible Murray will see some action.
Harrison Jr. averages 56.6 receiving yards per game and has 40 targets over seven games, which is 54th, and he has just two touchdown catches. ESPN’s receiver score ranks him as the NFL’s 48th-best receiver — a notable improvement from 2024, when he ranked 93rd.
He is second on the Cardinals in targets and receiving yards per game behind tight end Trey McBride (66 targets, 60.1 yards per game).
“It takes a lot of self-restraint and duct tape,” the family patriarch said. “I got to close my mouth and just don’t say nothing.”
“I think our situations are different,” Harrison Jr. said. “I think the era of football is different, the system I think … to be honest with you guys, it’s just like he played with Peyton Manning, obviously a Hall of Fame quarterback.
“It’s hard for him to watch. I think it’s a combination of what he’s used to. Obviously, if you’re a parent who’s never played football and you see your kid playing, this is all you know, but he’s been in the locker room, been on an NFL team, been in the best offense with one of the best quarterbacks of all time. So, he kind of sees it all from a different perspective. I think that’s what kind of makes it hard to watch for him.”
It has become bad enough for Harrison Sr. that he doesn’t go to games because he wants to protect his “mental capacity.” It doesn’t bother Harrison Jr., who said he has never been someone who needs physical support at games.
Despite being disenchanted with the Cardinals’ offense, Harrison Sr. has stopped short of assigning blame. He doesn’t want to single anyone out.
He didn’t want to comment on how the Cardinals are using his son, mainly because he doesn’t know what’s being discussed, taught and assigned in meetings.
“I’m just telling you that jacket, they’d be sending a prepaid envelope. ‘Thanks for all your help, but send that jacket back, please.'”
To Harrison Jr., the Cardinals’ offense under offensive coordinator Drew Petzing is all he knows, but he has gotten a small taste of what else is out there through conversations with his former Ohio State teammates catching passes around the league. Seattle Seahawks star Jaxon Smith-Njigba leads the NFL with 117 receiving yards per game and is tied for fourth with 70 targets, and New Orleans Saints wideout Chris Olave is fourth in receptions with 52.
“I feel like any kind of system can work if you have the 11 guys executing at a high level, whether that’s certain receivers getting maybe more targets than others,” Harrison Jr. said. “I think it all really still comes down to execution.
Manning once told Harrison Jr. that his dad never had to ask for the ball because “I got it to him.”
“I can’t control some things, and that part is frustrating because you want the ball and you see the other guys and [it’s] just a natural comparison,” he said.
The one player he sees as a natural comparison is the Cincinnati Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase because Chase, like Harrison Jr., was a top-five pick in 2021. That might be where the comparisons stop because of their respective situations.
They’re in different systems, in different offenses with different styles of quarterbacks. Joe Burrow was an MVP finalist last year. It led to Chase having the fourth-highest percentage of targets per route run, according to ESPN Research. Harrison Jr. is ranked 120th.
That’s not something Harrison Jr. can change on his own, but if he looks at his dad’s career, he knows he can take a lesson from how his dad approached targets — albeit a tad differently.
Harrison Sr. said he’d go in on a Monday morning after contributing 100 yards and two touchdowns and still complain to former Colts general manager Bill Polian and Manning that he wanted more.
“That’s how I am and that’s how my mentality is,” Harrison Sr. said. “That’s why I am who I am. That doesn’t point the finger at no one.
It’s one that Harrison Jr. is trying to adopt while being acutely aware that his personality is light-years from his father’s.
Harrison Jr. never had to demand the ball in high school or college, so doing it in the NFL would be a detour from who he is on a daily basis.
“You should be almost delusional in that you think you’re open all the time when you’re probably not, but ‘I don’t care, throw me that s— anyway,'” Terrell said. “Wideouts should all have that type of confidence.
It would be easier if that trait had been inherited from his father, but Harrison Jr. said he’s working at being more assertive.
Harrison Jr. has figured out in a short time to focus on what he can control. He can control getting open, finding separation and catching the ball when it’s thrown his way, he explained. Harrison is averaging 2.79 yards of separation this season, which ranks 79th among receivers with at least 20 catches. However, he’s ranked fifth in the league with five catches in tight windows, which is when a defender is less than a yard away when the ball arrives, according to ESPN Research. Whoever is throwing Harrison the ball is confident he’ll make a play. He’s ranked 15th in tight-window target percentage and 16th in tight-window receiving percentage.
MNF Trailer: Cardinals vs. Cowboys (0:30)Get ready for “Monday Night Football” in Week 9, when the Cardinals travel to take on the Cowboys. (0:30)
Get ready for “Monday Night Football” in Week 9, when the Cardinals travel to take on the Cowboys. (0:30)
CloseJosh Weinfuss is a staff writer who covers the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL at ESPN. Josh has covered the Cardinals since 2012, joining ESPN in 2013. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and a graduate of Indiana University.Follow on X
That will be a struggle for the Hall of Fame wide receiver.
That hasn’t been easy, but Harrison Jr. understands what his dad is going through.
“I think you can still make it work, but you got to play the cards you’re dealt.”
“It was like, well, that’s not the case for everyone,” Harrison Jr. said.
“That’s the attitude you have to have in this league.”
“Man, he’s like a church mouse,” Harrison Sr. said of his son.
But Terrell is “absolutely” good with Harrison Jr. demanding the ball.
But it’s hard. The 53-year-old Harrison Sr. is aware of how he sounds.