Around the NFL

May 01, 2025

Cardinals looking for second-year breakout

Gannon says Harrison headed for a big year

As Jonathan Gannon sees it, Marvin Harrison is headed for a big year. Harrison, Gannon says, is working hard – seemingly determined to become a top-tier receiver.

“When the staff’s in place, the jump from Year 1 to Year 2, I think that’s where guys make a huge jump,” Gannon said on a recent radio show. “And this guy played unbelievable ball for us. But if you talk to him, he’d be the first to tell you, I need to get better at these couple of things. And man, he has went to work on them. He’s went to work on them … He looks awesome out there right now.”

All of which was great. But if Harrison has an unusual work ethic and drive, where was it last year? Why wasn’t he correcting these issues during the 2024 season?

Harrison had a serviceable rookie season – 62 catches for 885 yards and 8 TDs – but it fell short of what you would expect for a wide receiver selected with the No. 4 pick of the draft.

And while it’s easy to toss around the idea that a receiver will be a lot better in his second year, simply because he’s been around, with a better feel for the offense and the pro game, it’s not strongly supported by the numbers.

Consider the charts below. The first shows the 26 wide receivers who’ve ranked between 25th and 40th statistically in their first season in the last 15 years – guys who have had some success (using PPR scoring) but who haven’t quite broken into stardom. I left out receivers who ranked in the top 24 because I wanted to stay away from the dynamic of it simply being hard to match big numbers.

The second chart shows how those receivers fared in their second season. Thirteen of them got better, but 11 of them got worse. Only three (in bold) moved up into the top 10 at their position statistically. Another five moved up into the top 20, so you could say a third (8 of 24) moved up into the top 20, having “breakout” seasons of sorts.

Almost as many receivers finished with lesser number than in their rookie season. (I’ve got those guys tagged with dots.) But in fairness, note that four receivers missed at least half of the season because of injuries and a suspension. If we set those four aside, there are almost twice as many wide receivers getting better rather than worse. That can be considered a good sign for those hoping for a Harrison breakout.

I’m not opposed to picking Harrison, but I will guess that he’ll be a little lower on my board than most.

ROOKIE RECEIVERS WITH 'SOLID' SEASONS
Year	Player	G	No	Rec	Run	TD	PPR	Rk
2024	Marvin Harrison, Ari.	17	62	885	0	8	198.5	30
2024	Xavier Worthy, K.C.	17	59	638	104	9	187.2	33
2023	Jayden Reed, G.B.	16	64	793	119	10	217.2	25
2023	Rashee Rice, K.C.	16	79	938	-3	7	214.5	27
2023	Tank Dell, Hou.	11	47	709	51	7	165.0	39
2023	Zay Flowers, Balt.	16	77	858	56	6	206.4	31
2022	Drake London, Atl.	17	72	866	0	4	184.6	28
2022	George Pickens, Pitt.	17	52	801	24	5	166.5	40
2021	DeVonta Smith, Phil.	17	64	916	0	5	187.6	30
2020	Brandon Aiyuk, S.F.	12	60	748	77	7	184.5	35
2020	Tee Higgins, Cin.	16	67	908	28	6	196.6	28
2019	Darius Slayton, NYG	14	48	740	0	8	170.0	37
2019	Deebo Samuel, S.F.	15	57	802	159	6	191.1	31
2019	Diontae Johnson, Pitt.	16	59	680	41	6	167.1	39
2019	DK Metcalf, Sea.	16	58	900	11	7	193.1	29
2019	Terry McLaurin, Was.	14	58	919	0	7	191.9	30
2018	DJ Moore, Car.	16	55	788	172	2	163.0	36
2017	Cooper Kupp, LAR	15	62	869	0	5	178.9	25
2016	Sterling Shepard, NYG	16	65	683	31	8	184.4	36
2014	Jarvis Landry, Mia.	16	84	758	-4	5	189.4	30
2014	Jordan Matthews, Phil.	16	67	872	0	8	202.2	25
2014	Sammy Watkins, Buff.	16	65	982	8	6	200.0	27
2013	Cordarrelle Patterson, Min.	16	45	469	158	9	161.7	38
2012	Justin Blackmon, Jac.	16	64	865	23	5	184.8	29
2012	T.Y. Hilton, Ind.	15	50	861	29	8	187.0	28
2011	Torrey Smith, Balt.	16	50	841	39	7	180.0	30

SAME RECEIVERS, SECOND SEASONS
Year	Player	G	No	Rec	Run	TD	PPR	Rk
2024	Zay Flowers, Balt.	17	74	1059	56	4	209.5	25
2024	• Jayden Reed, G.B.	17	55	857	163	7	199.0	29
2024	• Tank Dell, Hou.	14	51	667	43	3	140.0	51
2024	• Rashee Rice, K.C.	4	24	288	1	2	64.9	101
2023	George Pickens, Pitt.	17	63	1140	18	5	208.8	30
2023	• Drake London, Atl.	16	69	905	0	2	174.6	36
2022	DeVonta Smith, Phil.	17	95	1196	0	7	256.6	9
2021	Tee Higgins, Cin.	14	74	1091	0	6	221.1	23
2021	• Brandon Aiyuk, S.F.	17	56	826	17	5	172.3	35
2020	DK Metcalf, Sea.	16	83	1303	0	10	273.3	7
2020	Terry McLaurin, Was.	15	87	1118	30	4	225.8	20
2020	Diontae Johnson, Pitt.	15	88	923	15	7	223.8	21
2020	• Darius Slayton, NYG	16	50	751	-1	3	143.0	54
2020	• Deebo Samuel, S.F.	7	33	391	26	1	80.7	96
2019	DJ Moore, Car.	15	87	1175	40	4	232.5	16
2018	• Cooper Kupp, LAR	8	40	566	25	6	135.1	51
2017	• Sterling Shepard, NYG	11	59	731	4	2	144.5	42
2015	Jarvis Landry, Mia.	16	110	1157	113	6	275.5	9
2015	Jordan Matthews, Phil.	16	85	997	0	8	232.7	16
2015	Sammy Watkins, Buff.	13	60	1047	1	9	218.8	20
2014	• Cordarrelle Patterson, Min.	16	33	384	117	2	95.1	83
2013	T.Y. Hilton, Ind.	16	82	1083	6	5	220.9	19
2013	• Justin Blackmon, Jac.	4	29	415	-1	1	76.4	93
2012	Torrey Smith, Balt.	16	49	855	9	8	183.4	31

—Ian Allan

Marvin Harrison Jonathan Gannon

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