Marvin Harrison Jr.'s 3rd season off to a slow start as concerns grow about the Cardinals' receiver

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — If this is Marvin Harrison Jr.'s breakout season for the Arizona Cardinals, it will have to begin after a quiet first two games in his third year in the league.

The No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 draft has just one catch for 33 yards through two weeks and has been nearly invisible in first-year coach Mike LaFleur's offense while All-Pro tight end Trey McBride, rookie running back Jeremiyah Love and receivers Michael Wilson and Kendrick Bourne get most of the touches.

Harrison said it's “obviously a slow start” and isn't surprised that people have been critical of his performance.

“I understand who I am and what I was expected to do when I got drafted here and all the expectations that were put on me,” Harrison said. “People want certain production, so when that’s not happening, everybody's going to ask questions or try to figure out why or a reason.”

LaFleur said the 24-year-old had some juicy chances during the team's 31-7 loss to Seattle on Sunday — including a potential touchdown on the second play of the game — but they never had time to develop because quarterback Jacoby Brissett was under heavy pressure from the Seahawks' elite defense.

Harrison finished the afternoon with just one target and no catches.

“It’s a long season — we’re two games in," LaFleur said. "There were some opportunities (Sunday) that I thought either the defense dictated that it couldn’t go there or just self-inflicted wounds. It was kind of 50-50.”

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Harrison, who is the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison, was viewed by almost everyone in the NFL as a can't-miss prospect thanks to his elite bloodline and productive college career at Ohio State.

But he hasn't been the game-changing presence that many expected — especially through the first two games of this season.

“Combination of a lot of things,” Harrison said. “For my route tree, getting down the field, you need to have a lot of things go right. You need the right coverage, you need the protection to hold up, you need to run a great route, you need Jacoby to make right pass or the right read. It’s never one person’s fault for anybody’s success or lack thereof.”

Brissett knows Harrison is frustrated with his slow start, but that the receiver is still putting in the hard work needed to be successful. The veteran quarterback also put some of the blame on himself, saying it's his job to make sure Harrison is involved.

“Nobody's lost confidence in Marv,” Brissett said. "The hard part as a young player is the noise from the outside, telling you what they expect from you and things of that nature.

“Does Marv want the ball? Yes. Do we understand that he wants the ball? Yes. But is it only Week 2? Yes.”

Harrison had some good moments as a rookie and finished with 885 yards receiving and eight touchdowns. His second year was stunted by injuries and illness, including an appendectomy, and he had 608 yards receiving and four touchdowns over 12 games.

Now in his third year, expectations are high. LaFleur's offensive acumen is highly respected and the Cardinals hope he can figure out how to unlock Harrison's potential.

There is still plenty of time for that to happen, but the pairing hasn't clicked right away.

Harrison's effort has also been questioned after social media posts of Cardinals' plays show what critics believe is lackadaisical route running and run blocking. LaFleur shut down inquires into those concerns earlier this week and has repeatedly said Harrison is a model teammate who just wants to win.

“I'm not going to sit here and not act like I don't know the narrative that's going on," LaFleur said. "This is the league. Naturally, stuff comes across my desk. But in between those walls, Marv is Marv, he's attacking it every single day like he always does, just like his teammates do.

"I appreciate the way he goes about his business.”

Harrison might not be thrilled with the slow start, but he feels like the team has his back. He added that it only takes one good performance to alter the narrative.

“Things in the NFL can change very fast,” he said.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. greets head coach Mike LaFleur, right, before an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (18) cannot catch a pass against the Los Angeles Chargers during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A man was executed Wednesday evening in Texas for a triple killing committed during a robbery attempt at a rural home, one week after the other man convicted in the case was put to death.

Ker’Sean Ramey, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:34 p.m. CDT following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was the sixth person to be put to death so far this year in Texas, with three more executions scheduled in the state over the next two months.

In the execution chamber, a prison chaplain rested his left hand on Ramey’s right shoulder and offered a brief prayer before the warden asked the prisoner if he had any last words.

Ramey then praised God and thanked friends, family and fellow prisoners on death row he called his brothers.

"To the brothers on Texas death row that grew up with me, that poured into me and showed what it means to be a man, because I came in young, and didn’t understand what manhood was ... to you brothers ... I greatly appreciate you,” he said just before the injection got underway.

As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began flowing, Ramey took a deep breath, sputtered and then began snoring. After 10 loud snoring sounds and two that were nearly inaudible, all movement ceased.

Afterward, a physician examined Ramey and pronounced him dead 14 minutes after the injection had begun. The body was then covered with a white sheet.

A jury had convicted Ramey of capital murder and sentenced him to death for the August 2005 shootings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, at the home they shared in Edna, a small rural city some 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Houston.

Ramey and LeJames Norman believed there was cocaine in the house and hoped to steal it, according to court records. The men entered the home with guns, found none and fatally shot the three residents, who lived just across the street from Norman, the records show.

Norman was executed on Sept. 16 at the Huntsville prison, where all Texas executions are carried out.

Including Ramey's execution, a total of 28 inmates have been put to death in various U.S. states so far this year. Florida leads all those states by far with 15 executions to date in 2026 as the nation's busiest death chamber.

Hours before Wednesday's execution, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Ramey's final appeal.

His attorneys had argued that jurors had never heard about how Ramey suffered physical abuse as a child and grew up in poverty. State prosecutors told the court the appeal was “meritless” and argued that the evidence showed Ramey had “an escalating pattern of criminal behavior.”

Norman was arrested about five months after the killings while trying to cross back into the U.S. from Mexico, where he had fled. He went on to testify during Ramey’s trial in January 2007 that both he and Ramey shot the victims. Ramey’s attorneys blamed the shootings on Norman.

Ramey’s former girlfriend testified that she was with Ramey when he threw two pistols into a lake after the killings, and that he told her in detail about his involvement.

Lopez was shot four times, including in the back of the head; Peacock was shot twice in the head; and Roberts was shot five times in the chest, neck and head.

Norman was sentenced to death in December 2008 after pleading guilty to capital murder.

This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Ker'Sean Ramey on Oct. 31, 2022. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)

FILE - The state of Texas execution chamber in Huntsville, Texas, is seen on May 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)