Former Ohio State Wide Receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. Signs Four-Year, $35.37 Million Rookie Contract with Arizona Cardinals

The former Ohio State wide receiver signed his rookie contract with the Cardinals on Thursday.

As the No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, Harrison’s first NFL contract is worth $35.37 million over the next four years, with the Cardinals holding a fifth-year option for 2028. The deal includes a $22.5 million signing bonus and is fully guaranteed, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

“It’s my first job,” Harrison told the Arizona Cardinals’ official website after signing his contract. “Ever since I got here I’ve been telling people I’m going to work – it’s not practice anymore.”

Harrison is the first of this year’s top five picks to sign his NFL rookie contract. He’s the third of Ohio State’s four 2024 NFL draft picks to sign their contracts, joining Houston Texans fourth-round pick Cade Stover (four years, $4.76 million) and Las Vegas Raiders fifth-round pick Tommy Eichenberg (four years, $4.36 million).

Cleveland Browns second-round pick Mike Hall Jr. has not signed his contract yet, but his deal is projected to be worth $7.07 million over the next four years, per the league’s draft pick wage scale.

Harrison signed his contract with the Cardinals even though he has yet to sign the NFLPA’s licensing agreement, which prevents fans from buying his jersey and could keep him out of the Madden NFL 25 video game if he does not sign the agreement. His decision not to sign the licensing agreement before the draft, as NFL prospects typically do, comes amid a dispute with Fanatics, which filed a lawsuit against Harrison on Saturday alleging breach of contract. Fanatics is accusing Harrison of failing to fulfill the obligations of a contract he signed with Fanatics while he was still at Ohio State in 2023, while Harrison’s team has said there is no contract between the former Buckeye star and the sports memorabilia company.

The highest-drafted wide receiver in Ohio State history, Harrison joins former OSU left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. as one of the young stars of the Cardinals, who drafted Johnson with the No. 6 overall pick in 2023.