Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.'s second NFL season is over.
Head coach Jonathan Gannon told reporters on Wednesday that Harrison will not play against the Rans in Sunday’s regular season finale. It will be the fifth game that Harrison misses this season.
Harrison missed two games after having an appendectomy and two more with a heel injury. He returned to play in Weeks 15 and 16, but was limited to 19 games by the heel last week.
The 2024 first-round pick had 41 catches for 608 yards and four touchdowns this season. Injuries contributed to that, but his production even when healthy hasn’t been where most expected it to be based on how productive he was at Ohio State.
Harrison’s bid to change that seems likely to unfold with a new quarterback next season, but any word on who that might be will have to wait until the offseason is officially underway in Arizona.
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Cardinals defensive lineman Calais Campbell said in August that he’d “be very surprised” if the 2025 wasn’t his final season in the NFL, but he isn’t making any announcements ahead of the final game of the regular season.
Campbell’s 18th season will end with Sunday’s game against the Rams, but he isn’t ruling out a 19th year at this point. He said he wants to take some time after the season to decompress and that he doesn’t “know if I’m going to retire or not because I don’t know how my body is going to feel” after that process.
“The last few years I’ve been through this process I’ve known pretty quickly that I’ve wanted to play again,” Campbell said, via the team’s website. “It didn’t take me that long — within a month or so, I knew I wanted to play football again. We’ll see. I hope to know quickly if I don’t want to play football again. The biggest thing is if I do want to play football again, I give myself the opportunities to play football again. I try to always sign my work and play at a level that they want me back. Even if I decide not to play again, I want to have the ability to say no, rather than them saying, ‘See you later.’”
Campbell spent his first nine NFL seasons with the Cardinals and returned to the team on a one-year deal this year. He has started every game and recorded 41 tackles and 6.5 sacks in his second Arizona stint. That production should create interest from the Cardinals and/or others and it doesn’t sound like it will be long before Campbell reveals whether he’ll be back on the field in 2026.
The Cardinals signed tight end Rivaldo Fairweather from the Cowboys’ practice squad, the team announced Tuesday.
In a corresponding move, the Cardinals placed cornerback Kei’Trel Clark on injured reserve with his back issue. Clark becomes the 23rd player currently on the team’s IR. Cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting has missed the entire season on the non-football injury list.
The Cardinals also released tight end Messiah Swinson from the practice squad.
Fairweather is an undrafted rookie out of Auburn. The Cardinals currently have Trey McBride, Elijah Higgins, Josiah Deguara and Pharaoh Brown on the roster at tight end, with Tip Reiman and Travis Vokolek on IR. Brown and Deguara will be unrestricted free agents after the season.
Clark played 14 games this season, with one start. He had two passes defensed, a forced fumble, a tackle for loss and 25 total tackles. He also had 10 total tackles on special teams.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026 has its list of 15 finalists, including four players who are eligible for the first time this year: Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Frank Gore and Jason Witten.
Four more players advanced to the finalist stage automatically because they reached the Final 7 for the Class of 2025: Willie Anderson, Torry Holt, Luke Kuechly and Adam Vinatieri.
The other seven finalists are Jahri Evans, Eli Manning, Terrell Suggs, Reggie Wayne, Kevin Williams, Darren Woodson and Marshal Yanda.
Up to five of those modern era players can be selected to the Class of 2026, and five other candidates have already been put on the Class of 2026 ballot: coach finalist Bill Belichick, contributor finalist Robert Kraft and senior finalists Ken Anderson, Roger Craig and L.C. Greenwood.
Rams coach Sean McVay said after Monday night’s loss to the Falcons that all his starters will play in the Week 18 regular-season finale against the Cardinals.
“We’re playing,” McVay said. “Yeah, they’re playing.”
The Rams will be a wild card team, and the only thing that can change in Week 18 is their seed: If the Rams win and the 49ers lose, the Rams will be the No. 5 seed. Otherwise, the Rams will be the No. 6 seed. In past years, McVay has rested his starters in situations like that, but this year McVay said he’s not even thinking about playoff scenarios, he’s just thinking about wanting his team to play better heading into the postseason.
“We need to play better football,” McVay said. “I don’t know what the consequences are and those different types of things, but we’ve got to play better.”
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford said after the game that he agrees with McVay that the starters should play in the finale.
“I love playing the game, so I’ll be ready to go,” Stafford said.
The Rams are on a two-game losing streak, and McVay and Stafford want to see that change before the playoffs.
Jonathan Gannon expects to retain his job for 2026.
The Cardinals coach was asked at his Monday news conference whether he anticipates being in the same seat next week.
“Yeah,” he said, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.
Gannon pointed to confidence in himself as the reason.
It is unclear whether ownership has informed Gannon of his status for next season as he said he didn’t want to “get into all that.” But Gannon intimated that he has assurances.
“I feel good,” Gannon added.
The Cardinals are 3-13 this season, tied for the franchise’s worst single-season mark since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger. Gannon is 15-35 in three seasons.
He frequently talks with owner Michael Bidwill about the team.
“I kind of do the same process as I’ve done the last two years: I try to take detailed notes, try to have a pulse of what’s going on, but you can’t let that. . . . I do have to think about the future a little bit, obviously the seat that I’m in, but my focus is really on L.A. and that there’ll be a time to look at all of that and have those conversations and make changes,” Gannon said. “No one’s happy. I’m not happy. Players aren’t happy. Through adversity, you’ve got to change. So, I got to change, and we got to change some things, but we’ll get to that.”
The Bengals and Cardinals were both mathematically eliminated heading into today’s game and had nothing to play for, but the Bengals showed up while the Cardinals did not.
Bengas quarterback Joe Burrow had an excellent game, completing 24 of 31 passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns (both to Ja’Marr Chase) and no interceptions. Bengals running back Chase Brown added 22 carries for 101 yards and two touchdowns of his own.
The Bengals won 37-14, and it wasn’t even that close, as the score was 37-7 in the third quarter before the Bengals took their foot off the gas.
It was a meaningless game and the Bengals were winning a blowout, so in the third quarter they decided to have some fun, lining up offensive lineman Cody Ford at wide receiver and throwing to him — and he caught the ball, broke a tackle and gained 21 yards. Today is Ford’s 29th birthday, and that was a great gift.
The Cardinals’ lone bright spot came in the form of tight end Trey McBride, who caught 10 passes and set a new NFL record for catches in a season by a tight end.
With the win, the Bengals improve to 6-10 on the season. The Cardinals fall to 3-13.
Cardinals tight end Trey McBride is the new NFL record holder for catches in a season by a tight end.
McBride caught 10 passes today in Cincinnati, bringing his season total to 119. The previous record for catches in a season by a tight end was 116, set by Zach Ertz of the Eagles in 2018.
McBride had 111 catches last season, and his 230 catches over the last two years are by far the most catches by a tight end over a two-year stretch.
It was an ugly day for the Cardinals today in Cincinnati, but McBride was an exception, and he’s established himself as an elite player on a team that needs more of them.
The Panthers added rookie Tetairoa McMillan to their injury report with an illness on Sunday morning, but they won’t have to go without their top wide receiver against the Seahawks.
McMillan is active for their home game against the NFC West frontrunners. The first-round pick has 65 catches for 924 yards and seven touchdowns so far this season.
The Panthers will win the NFC South on Sunday with a win and a Buccaneers loss to the Dolphins. If they don’t get that combination of results, the two teams will okay for the division crown in Week 18.
Seahawks at Panthers
Seahawks: WR Hunter Renfrow, S Demani Richardson, DT Jared Harrison-Hunte, TE James Mitchell, DT Tershawn Wharton
Panthers: QB Jalen Milroe, CB Coby Bryant, LB Jared Ivey, T Charles Cross, G Bryce Cabledue, OL Mason Richman, DL Brandon Pili
Steelers at Browns
Steelers: QB Will Howard, WR Calvin Austin, RB Kaleb Johnson, CB Brandin Echols, CB James Pierre, G Isaac Seumalo, EDGE T.J. Watt, DL Logan Lee
Browns: OL Jeremiah Byers, QB Dillon Gabriel, OL Kendrick Green, CB Myles Harden, DL Sam Kamara, TE David Njoku, WR Jamari Thrash
Patriots at Jets
Patriots: QB Tommy DeVito, WR Kayshon Boutte, OT Marcus Bryant, G Jared Wilson, NT Khyiris Tonga, LB Robert Spillane, LB Harold Landry
Jets: QB Tyrod Taylor, OL Marquis Hayes, WR Quentin Skinner, TE Mason Taylor, DL Mazi Smith, S Chris Smith
Saints at Titans
Saints: S Ugo Amadi, WR Mason Tipton, CB Rejzohn Wright, RB Alvin Kamara, G Cesar Ruiz, TE Zaire Mitchell-Paden, DT Bryan Bresee
Titans: S Jerrick Reed, OL Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson, OL Garrett Dellinger, OL Drew Moss, DL Cam Horsley
Jaguars at Colts
Jaguars: CB Keith Taylor, RB Bhayshul Tuten, G Patrick Mekari, C Robert Hainsey, TE Hunter Long, DL Danny Striggow, DT Maason Smith
Colts: C Tanor Bortolini, RB Tyler Goodson, S Reuben Lowery, S George Odum, OL Dalton Tucker, DL JT Tuimoloau
Buccaneers at Dolphins
Buccaneers: QB Connor Bazelak, WR Sterling Shepard, S Rashad Wisdom, LB John Bullock, OT Tristan Wirfs, EDGE Anthony Nelson
Dolphins: QB Tua Tagovailoa, S Minkah Fitzpatrick, WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, OL Kendall Lamm, C Aaron Brewer, LB Derrick McClendon
Cardinals at Bengals
Cardinals: S Budda Baker, OL Evan Brown, TE Pharaoh Brown, CB Kei’Trel Clark, K Joshua Karty, CB Kalen King, DL PJ Mustipher
Bengals: QB Jake Browning, WR Charlie Jones, CB Josh Newton, S PJ Jules, DE Joseph Ossai, TE Cam Grandy, DT Jordan Jefferson
For the second consecutive season, Cardinals left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. will end the year on injured reserve with a knee injury.
Johnson injured his knee in the Week 14 loss to the Rams and hasn’t played since. He missed the final two games of the 2024 season with a knee injury.
The Cardinals now have 22 players on injured reserve, with Sean Murphy-Bunting on the non-football injury list.
Rookie Josh Fryar has replaced Johnson this season, with Demontrey Jacobs also getting some snaps at the position.
The Cardinals used the roster spot to promote defensive lineman Zachary Carter from the practice squad.
They also announced they elevated cornerback Jaden Davis and wide receiver Steven Sims from the practice squad for Sunday’s game against the Bengals.
