The muscle [Marvin Harrison Jr.](/team/players-roster/marvin-harrison-jr/) has added since the end of his rookie season is apparent.
The wide receiver, who weighed 209 pounds last season and doesn't officially get weighed again until mandatory minicamp next month, was careful not to utter his specific current number as he spoke on Monday, saying only he put on some (good) pounds and will use OTAs to figure out at what weight he'll choose to play.
"I feel the same, honestly," Harrison said, noting that while he's eating well but more than college, the body change "kind of just happened naturally."
Maybe that's to be expected for a guy who doesn't even turn 23 until August, a body simply filling out under the guidance of an NFL team. But then you hear Harrison talk about playing with more confidence this season, also something he said "happens naturally."
The Year Two jump for NFL players is real. The shift could just be natural, as Harrison has said. But for the Cardinals, there is no player from whom they need that jump to come more than Harrison, their top wide receiver in a room that – at this point – has remained unchanged from 2024.
Larry Fitzgerald had that jump, soaring from 58 catches and 780 yards as a rookie to 103 receptions and 1,409 yards in his second year. The Hall-of-Famer-to-be said he had Anquan Boldin as the team's top wideout in 2005, relieving pressure that Harrison will have to shoulder.
"Marv, from the time he stepped on the field, obviously you have Trey (McBride) and you have James (Conner) but they don't play wide receiver – it's a lot more difficult," Fitzgerald said. "Every single defense is geared up to take him away outside the numbers. That's what the game plan is. When I was coming I had a lot of guys around me to alleviate some of the stress. It's tough to really compare."
Harrison said he knows Fitzgerald is "always there for me, whatever questions I may have" but Harrison seems to understand well what needs to be done regardless. Part of that is lineage, his father Marvin Harrison Sr. is a Hall of Fame receiver himself.