The Cardinals had themselves quite a draft, it felt like they had their name called every third pick in the first couple of days of the draft. In the end, they added seven players, which means that my feelings weren’t too far off. Roughly one of every 12 picks in the first two days went to the desert birds. Let’s take a look at the fantasy football-relevant players who ended up in Scottsdale alongside Kyler Murray, shall we?
FULL ARIZONA CARDINALS 2024 DRAFT RESULTS
| Round | Pick | Player | Pos | College |
| 1 | 4 | Marvin Harrison, Jr. | WR | Ohio St |
| 1 | 27 | Darius Robinson | DT | Missouri |
| 2 | 43 | Max Melton | CB | Rutgers |
| 3 | 66 | Trey Benson | RB | FSU |
| 3 | 71 | Isaiah Adams | G | Illinois |
| 3 | 82 | Tip Reiman | TE | Illinois |
| 3 | 90 | Elijah Jones | CB | Boston College |
| 4 | 104 | Dadrion Taylor-Demerson | S | Texas Tech |
| 5 | 138 | Xavier Thomas | EDGE | Clemson |
| 5 | 162 | Christian Jones | OT | Texas |
| 6 | 191 | Tejhaun Palmer | WR | UAB |
| 7 | 226 | Jaden Davis | CB | Miami |
Round 1, Pick 5 Overall: Marvin Harrison Jr., Wide Receiver, Ohio State (6’3” 209 lbs)
[Note: The following is an excerpt from our Round One Instant Reaction piece.]
Talent:
The presumptive, and prohibitive #1 wide receiver in the 2024 NFL draft already looks the part of an NFL wide receiver. When you see college wide receivers, so much of the time they look like they’re just the most athletic guy in the room, and they don’t seem particularly refined in the nuances of the game. Not so for Marv Jr, who had a bit of a leg up in making himself the most refined college receiver in a long time, because he literally learned from a Hall of Famer… his dad.
Watching Marvin Harrison felt really weird because he already had the chops, route running, and poise of an NFL veteran. He didn’t have a ton of explosive plays with YAC like you usually see. Instead, what you saw was a player who already knew how to get open against the zone, how to be open when he isn’t against man, and who could catch anything thrown his way. He isn’t without flaws though, as his game and his size don’t exactly match up. At 6’4” and 209 pounds, he’s remarkably similarly built to Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Christian Watson, both deep ball speed threats. Harrison is a more refined, do-it-all, type receiver. He reminds me a lot of A.J. Green or Alshon Jeffery, though both receivers played with about 15 pounds on Marv Jr.
And that’s the one-sentence scouting report on Marv Jr: incredibly refined, great at getting open, incredible at contested catches, and needs to eat a cheeseburger. His weight is a problem if the defensive back decides to make his life a mess on a 50-50 ball, and it frequently leads to him getting jammed at the line of scrimmage. All-in-all, however, he’s a stunningly good receiver who should hit the ground running in 2024.
NFL Comparison: Skinny Alshon Jeffery
2024 Opportunity:
Marvin Harrison Jr. has absolutely zero competition for even a single target in the wide receiver room. Michael Wilson turned out to be a fever dream, Greg Dortch is only good for three games a year where he gets 10 targets each, and the rest of the receiver room has less talent combined than MHJ has in his pinky toe. The rookie record for wide receiver targets is 167… which feels like it isn’t even the ceiling for MHJ’s target upside his rookie year. Last year, Puka Nacua set wide receiver records with 1,486 yards and 105 receptions in his rookie year. Those both also feel like great upsides for Marvin Harrison Jr. There’s simply nobody else there to take targets from Harrison in his rookie year. There’s a reason the Cardinals were in the bottom three in wide receiver yards last season.
2024 Outlook:
With that type of upside for Harrison, I fear that he will end up in the second round in redraft leagues. At that price, I am more than out on Harrison, especially since it’s incredibly rare for rookies to finish inside the top ten at wide receiver during their rookie season. I am fairly cautious about Harrison, as I am with all rookies because I am okay with being wrong. That being said, I would still take him with a late third or early fourth-round pick. With that in mind, I am unlikely to have any MHJ in 2024 while folks have New Toy Syndrome with Harrison and ignore his warts. Still, if you want him, I wouldn’t get mad at a third-round pick.
TALENT:
2024 OPPORTUNITY:
2024 OUTLOOK:
Round 3, Pick 66 Overall: Trey Benson, Running Back, Florida State (6’0” 216 lbs)
Talent:
Benson is a big and athletic back who has a lot of potential to make it in any system in the NFL. He’s powerful, patient, and fast. Though, he doesn’t have great open-field vision or creativity, which limits his ability to take it all the way to the house, despite his speed. That having been said, any Benson carry is a good bet to make a first down at the next level. He would profile well as a first-and-second down back in the league, though he does have the hands ability to evolve into a three-down back, as well. Unfortunately, he doesn’t yet have the pass-blocking chops to allow a team to have him on the field to let him evolve into that third-down back, at least not yet.
In the end, he’s a big, strong, fast running back, who invites (and easily sheds) contact, a trait which can serve him well at the NFL level thanks to his big frame.
NFL Comparison: Isiah Pacheco
2024 Opportunity:
The Cardinals obviously view Trey Benson as their running back of the (near) future. After all, they’ve suddenly become a smart franchise and a smart franchise tries to find running backs off of the scrap heap unless they’re Christian McCaffrey. So, once James Conner’s life cycle winds down, then it will be Benson’s time to shine. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the hands to just step into the James Conner role should Conner go down at some point this season. But, he does have the skillset to relegate Conner closer to a 1A role than the rock-solid RB1 that he’s been on the Cardinals.
But, that having been said, when James Conner inevitably goes down, it’s entirely possible that Trey Benson takes hold of that job and doesn’t look back. They paired him with a third-round blocking tight end, meaning that the running game is going to be more than an afterthought after this draft. Benson will likely work as a change-of-pace back to start his career in Arizona but has an opportunity to take the reins with a multi-week absence from James Conner.
2024 Outlook:
It’s a bit of a Rube Goldberg Machine to get Trey Benson a full-time role with the Cardinals in 2024, but it’s clear they have a plan for him in 2025 and beyond. That having been said, he is a great handcuff to have for James Conner, as the Cardinals might get forced into giving him a bellcow role sooner rather than later after the season comes around. The Cardinals’ offense did a ton of work this offseason to turn the offense into a real one, and that should come with plenty of touchdown opportunities for Benson, should things go to plan. . It all depends on how camp develops, but as of right now, I would list Benson as an upside stash when draft season rolls around.
TALENT:
2024 OPPORTUNITY:
2024 OUTLOOK:
Round 3, Pick 82 Overall: Tip Reiman, Tight End, Illinois (6’5” 271 lbs)
Talent:
Tip Reiman had just 19 receptions for 203 yards in 12 games in 2023… which were all career highs. That tells you all that you really need to know about how the Cardinals view him in their system and what it means for fantasy football now and in the future. He can catch the ball, which his Combine showed, but he is first and foremost an inline blocker who literally thinks God put him on the earth to run block. I’m giving him five stars for that, but zero stars for anything related to fantasy football.
2024 Opportunity:
Tip Reiman will get plenty of snaps, but he will block on almost all of them. There’s no reason to have any interest in him unless he develops into something different down the line.
2024 Fantasy Football Outlook:
Outside of the rookie tight end thing, he had 19 catches in 12 games as a career-high in college.
TALENT:
2024 OPPORTUNITY:
2024 OUTLOOK:
Round 6, Pick 191 Overall: Tejhuan Palmer, Wide Receiver, UAB (6’2” 210 lbs)
Talent:
Tejhuan Palmer was a go-route specialist at UAB, but he struggled with his hands at times, making him an unideal consistent part of the offense. He doesn’t run a lot of routes, and he doesn’t particularly get open on the ones he does run. However, he does have the size and strength of a typical deep-threat receiver, with good ball-tracking skills and a nice radius. He can also kick inside to find the holes in zones, but none of that has to do with his routes, and more to do with him just sitting down in the zones.
2024 Opportunity:
The Cardinals are a wide receiver room that is extremely shallow on talent. Even then, Palmer is still outside the top four on the roster (Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson, Greg Dortch, and Zach Pascal). That being said, much like Tip Reiman, he loves to block. That will keep him on the roster while the Cardinals develop, but I doubt that he will run more than 100 routes this season.
2024 Outlook:
If the Cardinals turn to Palmer this season, then things have gone horribly wrong for them. The same goes for you and your fantasy football squad.
