2024 NFL draft: Scouts on Marvin Harrison Jr. strengths, flaws - ESPN

Too often NFL scouts and evaluators fall on cliches and lazy terms to describe draft prospects. Phrases like «generational talent» get used too much to put a player on a pedestal and signify he is special in comparison to others at his position. And so we've become immune to it, and in some cases, it causes the masses to push back on a prospect.

Well, when scouts call wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. a generational talent in the 2024 NFL draft class, they mean it.

The Ohio State junior is far and away the consensus WR1 in this class, and he's all the way up at No. 2 overall on my board behind USC quarterback Caleb Williams — who incidentally is also getting game-changer buzz. In more than a decade of ranking draft prospects, I've never had a receiver that high. After a breakout sophomore 2022 season of 77 catches, 1,263 yards and 14 scores, Harrison has 14 grabs for 304 yards and three touchdowns in 2023. That includes more than 125 yards and at least one TD in two of the Buckeyes' three games this season. He has an elite combination of physical abilities, learned traits and overall potential that will put him in the conversation with greats such as Calvin Johnson, A.J. Green and Julio Jones as one of the best WR prospects we've ever seen.

Don't just take my word for it. Over the past few months, we've talked to more than a dozen NFL scouts, executives, draft evaluators and college coaches to get a feel for Harrison's strengths and weaknesses, and to put some historical context on his pro projection. We also tried to pin down when Harrison will get drafted and which teams could be great fits.

Jump to:
Strengths | Weaknesses
Ceiling | Draft stock

Ask a handful of evaluators what they love about the 6-foot-4, 215-pound son