Marvin

Harrison

Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said Harrison would continue to play through his heel injury this week if he was healthy enough. It turns out that the 23-year-old receiver isn’t healthy enough after hurting his other foot in the Week 17 loss to the Bengals. Harrison wasn’t having much of an impact with one catch in the last two games since returning to the lineup. With Harrison out, Michael Wilson is a must-start option for fantasy managers. Wilson is the WR3 over the last seven weeks behind only Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He needs 93 yards in Week 18 to have his first 1,000-yard season.

It certainly seems like forcing Harrison to play through this heel injury isn’t helping anybody — he’s caught one ball in two games since returning, leaving each of them early — but Gannon refused to rule it out. Either way, Trey McBride and Michael Wilson are the Cardinals you actually want to start in fantasy leagues in Week 18. Harrison would be hard to trust if active.

Trying to gut through what is very clearly a painful issue, MHJ was barely on the field before being announced as being hurt again and never returning. He will now almost certainly be shut down ahead of Week 18 against the Rams, clearing the way for Trey McBride and Michael Wilson to go bonkers in fantasy one final time this season. Stay tuned.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter has reported MHJ will be on a snap count, making him a volatile WR3 for what fantasy managers are hoping will be a shootout in Cincinnati. Inactive for the Cardinals are K Joshua Karty, S Budda Baker, CB Kei’Trel Clark, CB Kalen King, TE Pharaoh Brown, OL Evan Brown and DL P.J. Mustipher.

Harrison Jr. played through the heel issue last week. He was on a pitch count for that game as well, taking the field for 29-of-47 offensive snaps. MHJ was largely subbed out on running plays. He still logged a route rate of 79 percent. The biggest change in the offense with his return was the decline of Michael Wilson, who had been putting up WR1 numbers in MHJ’s absence. Wilson was relegated to field-stretching duties, though he did manage to find the end zone on one of his two grabs. MHJ is barely a WR5 after seeing just three targets last week. Wilson isn’t much higher in the ranks, having also seen three looks in Week 16.

He got in three limited sessions this week — the same as last week — and clearly is trying to play through the injury. Given his lack of production on Sunday (1/14) and the lack of production of late, it would make sense to break ties against Harrison in Championship Week lineups.

It’s an estimate since the Cardinals didn’t actually practice during Christmas Day. Harrison has been limited in both practices, but if he can get in another day he stands a pretty solid chance of playing in Week 17 against the Bengals.

MHJ returned from the heel injury last week. He was only targeted three times and caught just one pass for 14 yards. He is not on the fantasy radar for Week 17, but his return also put an end to Michael Wilson SZN. Wilson was also targeted just three times, though he did bring down two of his looks for 52 yards and a score. Wilson will sit on the WR3/4 border for his Week 17 matchup versus Cincinnati.

Harrison’s lone catch occurred on a comeback route with less than six minutes left in the game. He earned two targets before that, both of which were downfield passes thrown into the end zone. The first, 36 yards downfield, occurred on the Cardinals’ first drive, but he was slightly overthrown while being double-covered. Harrison failed to secure the second, thrown 26 yards downfield, in the third quarter. He remains a volatile WR3 against the Bengals.

The Cardinals reportedly plan to “ease” Harrison back into action today. Teams often cast aside snap-count plans if their recently injured star player is feeling good early in their return, but Harrison has not yet established himself as a player who regularly exceeds expectations. The prudent move is to treat WR Michael Wilson as a fantasy football WR2 and view Harrison as a WR4/FLEX. Cardinals WR Xavier Weaver (hamstring) is also active. The Cardinals declared CB Max Melton (heel), CB Elijah Jones, CB Darren Hall (concussion), S Jalen Thompson (hamstring), OL Evan Brown (personal) and LT Paris Johnson Jr. (knee) inactive for Week 16 against the Falcons.