The Cardinals have moved on from Marvin Harrison Jr., and head coach Mike LaFleur isn’t offering much beyond the simplest explanation for why it happened.
Arizona dealt the wide receiver to the Texans a couple of years after selecting him fourth overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, sending Harrison and a seventh-rounder to Houston in exchange for a second-round pick and a sixth-round pick. What once looked like a franchise-building move ended with a quick breakup instead.
Asked to explain the decision, LaFleur kept it plain.
"We just thought it was in the best interest of the club."
He also took responsibility for Harrison not reaching the level Arizona expected.
"Any guy that does not play to the level I feel like they're capable of, I'm always gonna put that on me and coaching in general," LaFleur added.
Theo Mackie of AZCentral reported LaFleur’s comments, which made clear the team wasn’t interested in turning the trade into a public postmortem. When asked whether he believed Harrison wanted to remain in Arizona, LaFleur declined to speak for the player.
"I'm not gonna answer for Marv," LaFleur said.
Later, when pressed again about how the Cardinals arrived at the move, he shut it down even further.
"I'm gonna keep the details tight."
The timing of the trade stands out even more with Arizona having extended Michael Wilson only a few weeks ago and Trey McBride described as arguably the best tight end in the league. That leaves the Cardinals without Harrison, even though he was a top-five pick not long ago.
For now, LaFleur and the Cardinals are left hoping the deal really does turn out to be in the best interest of the club.
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