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NFL Draft: What if Arizona Cardinals don't land Marvin Harrison Jr.?

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NFL Draft: What if Arizona Cardinals don't land Marvin Harrison Jr.?


Everything lines up pretty well when it comes down to the Arizona Cardinals and Marvin Harrison Jr. joining forces at the 2024 NFL Draft this April.

The franchise, which holds the No. 4 overall pick, is in search of its next cornerstone and from every indication, Harrison could be just that for Arizona.

It almost seems too good to be true.

While most analysts see Harrison in the desert, anything can happen come draft night, including the wideout heading somewhere not named Arizona when the first round is all said and done.

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But just because Harrison could potentially be off the board when the Cardinals are on the clock doesn’t mean Arizona can’t walk away with an impact player (or more).

A look at some of the non-Harrison avenues Arizona could traverse this April:

The Arizona Cardinals trade the fourth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft

For the Harrison-or-bust line of thinkers, this option probably best suits you.

And honestly, it really comes down to what the Chicago Bears do with the first overall pick.

Despite 2021 first-round pick and quarterback Justin Fields currently on the roster, there’s a good chance the Bears reset at signal caller with USC’s Caleb Williams or North Carolina’s Drake Maye. It would also mean a reset in terms of paying a quarterback on a rookie contract as opposed to having to hand Fields a contract extension not that long down the road.

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Chicago going quarterback would mean Harrison is one step closer to becoming a Cardinal, with both the Washington Commanders and New England Patriots in desperate need of signal callers.

But if Bears head coach Matt Eberflus, new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and Fields believe they can make it work in the Windy City, that could spell the end of the Harrison sweepstakes for the Cardinals.

What better way to build confidence with Fields than by giving him a 6-foot-4 ball magnet?

If that scenario plays out — there’s obviously still a way for the first three picks to be QB-QB-QB if Chicago decides to trade the first overall pick (again) to a team in need of a signal caller — than all eyes turn to the handful of teams looking to move up to land their franchise quarterback.

They include the Atlanta Falcons (No. 8), Minnesota Vikings (No. 11), Las Vegas Raiders (No. 13) and Denver Broncos (No. 12).

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Much like we saw last year, moving down into that range off a top 5 pick would likely ensure not only a first-round swap and more in 2024, but an additional first-rounder in 2025 with potential for extra picks.

It all comes down to how general manager Monti Ossenfort cooks if given this scenario.

The Cardinals still find their next No. 1 wide receiver at No. 4 overall

Missing out on Harrison might sting, but the potential consolation prize at wide receiver shouldn’t be anything to scoff at.

After Harrison, LSU’s Malik Nabers and Washington’s Rome Odunze are the next best options at wideout for the Cardinals if they decide to go that route at No. 4 overall.

Standing over 6-foot — Odunze (6-foot-3) holds a slight height advantage over Nabers (6-foot-1) — either one of the wide receivers would give quarterback Kyler Murray another big target in a pass-catching group that is currently headlined by Michael Wilson, Trey McBride and Rondale Moore with Hollywood Brown an unrestricted free agent and Greg Dortch an exclusive rights free agent.

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Both Nabers and Odunze posted big years in 2023.

Across 13 games, Nabers averaged 17.6 yards per catch on his way to 1,569 yards and 14 touchdowns on 89 receptions.

NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein’s NFL comparison for Nabers is Minnesota Vikings WR Justin Jefferson.

Zierlein writes:

He’s a bouncy leaper with the athletic ability to make the impossible catches possible. He tucks away accurate throws and displays the toughness and play strength to fight for tight-window victories over the middle. Nabers will need to address his tendency to track and play deep throws with finesse, or his early advantages will turn into 50/50 battles.

Odunze meanwhile was a big part in Washington’s national championship run, reeling in 92 balls for 1,640 yards and 13 scores. He added another touchdown and 37 yards on two carries on top of averaging 17.8 yards per catch.

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When it comes down to Zierlein’s NFL comparison of Odunze, Cardinals great Larry Fitzgerald comes to mind.

A team captain with good size and elite ball skills, Odunze consistently dominated his competition. … He shines in all aspects of ball skills, including positioning, body control, hand strength, timing and mid-air adjustments. He has a tendency to cruise through routes rather than working with attention to detail and pacing. He was a decorated high school sprinter, so speed should not be an issue in the pros. … Elite ball skills are often the secret sauce for top NFL receivers, so it should not surprise if Odunze is a Day 1 starter who becomes a top-flight WR1.

The Cardinals bookend the future with an offensive tackle in the first round

You know where else the Cardinals could potentially strike gold? At offensive tackle.

With veteran starting left tackle D.J. Humphries likely out for the majority of the regular season — there’s also the potential the team moves on from the lineman altogether in a cap-saving move — adding more talent to the position could go a long way both now and in the future.

As it stands, Paris Johnson Jr. figures to be the lead candidate to slide over to left tackle, with veteran Kelvin Beachum expected to take over on the right side.

Johnson is expected to be a Cardinals cornerstone for years to come, especially after playing every snap as a rookie. Beachum, however, is nearing the end of his career and is entering Year 13. Arizona would be wise to find its next bookend of the future.

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Luckily for the Cardinals, it seems like tackles are growing on trees this NFL Draft, though there’s still two names consisntely projected above the rest in Notre Dame’s Joe Alt and Penn State’s Olumuyiwa Fashanu.

ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper writes:

At 6-foot-6, 319 pounds, Fashanu has the physical traits and footwork of an elite lineman. He could have been a first-rounder in last year’s draft if he had entered. He allowed one sack in 21 career starts for the Nittany Lions. He still hasn’t come close to reaching his ceiling.

Alt on the other hand was Kiper’s “definition of a stalwart on the left side of Notre Dame’s line, where he started 33 games. He gave up just two sacks over the past two seasons.”

Added protection up front is never a bad thing.

The Cardinals find their next pass rusher with their top 5 pick

You know what else the Cardinals could use more of next season? A more consistent pass rush.

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One way to do that is by adding a talent like Alabama’s Dallas Turner to the fold.

Turner is coming off 10 sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss across 14 games played in 2023.

Zierlein believes Turner has the traits required to be an impactful NFL pass rusher.

Turner’s first-step quickness and elite closing burst are important building blocks, but he still needs to work on his process from Point A to Point B. He hasn’t learned to create the space and angles needed to consistently attack the edges, but that should come with better hand development and a more diversified approach. A team would be wise to widen him out and allow him a better runway to ignite his burst and overwhelm tackles with his speed.

Arizona’s pass rush, which ranked 30th in sacks last season, was led by Dennis Gardeck and his six sacks in 2023. Victor Dimukeje and BJ Ojulari weren’t far behind with four sacks apiece. In his first season moving to full-time OLB, Zaven Collins chipped in 3.5.

Help is needed at the position and Turner at the very least would give Arizona another option to plug into the rotation, though some could consider Turner at fourth overall a bit of a reach.

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“Not in my opinion (is there a pass-rushing prospect worthy of the No. 4 pick). If you’re going to make an argument for anyone, it’s Turner, because the traits and the tools,” Miller told Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke earlier this month.

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UConn downs Duke with last-second 3-pointer to join Illinois, Arizona and Michigan in Final Four

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UConn downs Duke with last-second 3-pointer to join Illinois, Arizona and Michigan in Final Four


All that talent at Arizona and Michigan. All that momentum and good vibes at UConn. And somebody has to be play the part of the unheralded “little guy.” At the Final Four next weekend, that role belongs, improbably, to Illinois.

In a sign of the times, the Illinii — a Big Ten team with more wins in the conference over the last seven seasons than any other program — will pass for something resembling Cinderella when college basketball’s biggest party kicks off in Indianapolis on Saturday.

The first challenge for coach Brad Underwood’s team will be stopping a hard-charging UConn juggernaut. After being down by as many as 19 on Sunday, Braylon Mullins retrieved a loose ball near midcourt in the waning seconds against Duke and suddenly, improbably, UConn had a chance to win.

As the frantic final seconds unfolded, Huskies coach Dan Hurley figured a timeout would do little good.

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“It just felt like the window where you’ve just got to let March Madness take over,” Hurley said. “March magic.”

The Huskies have enjoyed plenty of that through the years, and this may have been their most astonishing win yet. Mullins sank a desperation 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left to give UConn a 73-72 victory over top-seeded Duke, earning the Huskies a spot in the Final Four.

The Blue Devils (35-3) led by three before UConn’s Silas Demary Jr. made one of two free throws with 10 seconds left. With Duke playing keep-away to prevent the Huskies from fouling, Cayden Boozer’s pass near midcourt was deflected by Demary, and after UConn came up with the ball, Mullins swished a 3 from 35 feet away.

Braylon Mullins #24 of the UConn Huskies celebrates after shooting the game-winning three-point basket during the second half of a game against the Duke Blue Devils in the Elite Eight of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 29, 2026, in Washington, D.C.

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Emilee Chinn / Getty Images


The last two times the Huskies reached this point, they won the championship.

“It’s a UConn culture, a UConn heart,” Hurley said. “We believe we’re supposed to win this time of year.”

All these teams do.

Arizona, led by Brayden Burries, and Michigan, with Yaxel Lendeborg, have up to nine NBA prospects between them.

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The Wildcats opened as slight favorites — at plus-165 to win the championship, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. That was a shade ahead of the Wolverines, who are plus-180 after their 95-62 romp over Tennessee on Sunday.

But, in one of a few strange twists on the odds chart, the Wildcats are 1 1/2-point underdogs to Michigan in Saturday night’s second semifinal.

Illinois is a 2 1/2-point favorite over UConn and, in reality, it’s the Huskies, at plus-550, who are the biggest long shot in Indy.

Even so, the fact that Illinois — the flagship university in the nation’s sixth most populous state and a school with an enrollment of nearly 60,000 — feels most like this year’s out-of-nowhere underdog speaks more about the current state of college hoops than the Illini themselves.

They are a No. 3 seed — the highest number at the Final Four in two years. (UConn is a 2. Last season, all four No. 1s made it.)

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This year’s meeting of 1 vs. 1 — Michigan vs. Arizona — is a heavyweight matchup of power teams from power conferences.

It’s a far cry from a mere three years ago, when mid-majors Florida Atlantic (coached by Dusty May, who now leads the Wolverines) and San Diego State crashed college basketball’s biggest party.

Since then, NIL and the transfer portal have redefined the contours of player movement, another spasm of realignment has made the big conferences bigger (Arizona, now in the Big 12, was in the Pac-12 in 2023), and the high-achieving underdogs that used to make March Madness what it is have gone into a slump.

Double-digit seeds won a total of five games in this tournament (not counting the play-in round). Two years ago, they won 11 and sent one team (N.C. State) to the Final Four.

Not surprisingly, Underwood — the coach who landed on the Illinois radar a decade ago by coaching double-digit seed Stephen F. Austin to a pair of upset wins in the tournament — views his program’s trip to the Final Four more as destiny than a once-in-a-lifetime story.

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It is, however, the first trip for Illinois since 2005, when it lost to North Carolina in the title game.

“I don’t want to sound arrogant,” said Underwood, whose teams have won 96 Big Ten games since 2019-20, two more than Purdue. “I’ve never doubted us getting to a Final Four would happen. I have thought we have had other teams capable. But I also know how doggone hard it is to do it.”

The Big Ten knows all about this. Both Illinois and Michigan have a chance to deliver a title for the conference for the first time since Michigan State won it all in 2000.

The Illini, led by the so-called “Balkan Bloc” — a cohort of players with roots in Eastern Europe — have a potential NBA lottery pick of their own in guard Keaton Wagler.

Even so, the best-known name on the Illini roster might be Andrej Stojakovic, whose father, Peja, was a three-time NBA All-Star. Illinois is the third school in three years for the younger Stojakovic, who spent one season at Stanford and another at Cal before joining Underwood’s crew.

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The task for Illinois: Figuring out who to key on across a roster that has five players who average double figures, led by Tarris Reed Jr.

The Wildcats-Wolverines game is a high-powered matchup of programs that have shown there’s more than one way to amass talent in the era of the unlimited transfer portal and big-money name, image and likeness deals.

Four of the five starters for Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats began their careers in Tucson; the fifth, Big 12 player of the year Jaden Bradley, moved over from Alabama and has been with the Wildcats for three years.

Meanwhile, the top four players in minutes played at Michigan — Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr., Aday Mara and Elliot Cadeau — all arrived from the transfer portal.

In a twist that makes perfect sense these days, both coaches parlayed roots in the mid-majors to a spot on the sport’s biggest stage. Lloyd spent decades as a top assistant for Mark Few at Gonzaga before heading to Arizona to rebuild the program after the ouster of Sean Miller in 2021.

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May led FAU to the Final Four before heading to the Michigan program that had thrived, then collapsed, under former Fab Five star Juwan Howard.



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Suspect in custody after fleeing Arizona troopers and barricading inside a Phoenix neighborhood shed

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Suspect in custody after fleeing Arizona troopers and barricading inside a Phoenix neighborhood shed


PHOENIX — A suspect is in custody after fleeing from Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers overnight and hiding in a Phoenix neighborhood.

According to DPS, troopers attempted to stop a white BMW around 1:20 a.m. for speeding and displaying fictitious plates. The driver did not stop, and a pursuit was initiated.

Troopers later ended the pursuit due to safety concerns.

The vehicle was eventually found abandoned near 13th Avenue and McDowell Road. DPS says the suspect briefly drove again before getting out and running through nearby residential backyards.

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Authorities say the suspect barricaded himself inside a shed in a backyard.

Phoenix police officers, including a K-9 unit and air support, responded to assist and set up a perimeter. The suspect was located and taken into custody after refusing commands to surrender.

Police say the suspect was treated for minor injuries and taken to a hospital.

No other injuries were reported.





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Jenae Berry’s strongest outing as a Wildcat secures Arizona softball’s series win over Baylor

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Jenae Berry’s strongest outing as a Wildcat secures Arizona softball’s series win over Baylor


Arizona softball pitcher Jenae Berry (11) at Hillenbrand Stadium in Feb. 2026
Photo by Ryan Kelapire

It was another adventure for the No. 14 Arizona Wildcats, but sophomore pitcher Jenae Berry turned in her best outing as a Wildcat to secure the series win against Baylor. After taking Friday’s game in run-rule fashion, UA won Saturday’s game 11-7. The Wildcats go for the series sweep on Sunday.

“I’m so proud of her,” Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe said of Berry. “I think she was perfectly herself today. Didn’t try to do too much. She hit really great spots, mixed speeds, and it was exactly what we needed. You know, she came in and the game settled down once she did come in, and she really just controlled it throughout.”

Berry entered the game in relief and went 5.1 innings with five strikeouts. Both the innings and the Ks were season highs for the righty, who transferred in from Indiana during the offseason.

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“Regan [Shockey] was messing around with me after because I don’t normally strike many people out, but definitely fun,” Berry said.

Berry lowered her ERA from 7.58 to 6.68 after giving up two earned runs on three hits and no walks. She earned her second win of the season to improve her record to 2-0.

While the outing may have given Berry a boost, her teammates were grateful for the confidence she instilled in them.

“She gave some confidence to the team, for sure, that we really needed, and she allowed us to go offensively,” Shockey said. “And that’s the biggest thing I would say she contributed today. The energy.”

Shockey may not be someone who seems like she needs confidence. She rarely seems to struggle. However, she had a tough go of things for the first two games last week. She struck out three times in the first two games against ASU. Those three strikeouts gave her 12 for the season.

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She has bounced back in the over the last four games, stretching back to the final game of the series against the Sun Devils. Against the Bears, she is 7 for 8 with an RBI, a stolen base, and three runs scored. She looks more like the Regan Shockey everyone knows.

“I think that’s softball,” Shockey said. “You know, people are gonna know you. It’s my third year here, and third year playing against ASU…Can’t be scared to fail, and this weekend, I’m not scared to fail at all. Not scared to strike out, because at the end of the day, no one really remembers the strikeouts more than they remember the hits and our team scoring all those runs.”

Arizona scored most of their runs during the first inning in this one. After starter Rylie Holder wiggled out of a bases-loaded situation in the top of the first, the Wildcats’ offense got to work.

The team sent 11 to the plate in the inning. It only ended because Sereniti Trice was called for leaving base early in her second time getting on base in the frame.

The Wildcats opened with three straight singles to load the bases and bring Sydney Stewart to the plate. There was nowhere to put Arizona’s biggest bat. Baylor starter Peyton Tanner walked her to force in the first run.

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A sacrifice fly by Grace Jenkins put the Wildcats up 2-0, then another walk loaded the bases again. A third walk forced in the third run.

That brought up Tele Jennings, who was making her second straight start at designated player. Jennings transferred to Arizona from San Diego in the offseason. In her two seasons with the Toreros, she hit just .239 and had 24 extra-base hits.

She had struggled in her first couple of months as a Wildcat, too. She didn’t get her first hit until her sixth appearance in cardinal and navy. She came into the series hitting .231.

Lowe has been confident that Jennings would find her way, though. She has put her in as the starting DP three times in the past two weeks. This week, the junior broke through. She went 1 for 4 and reached on an error on Friday. Even the at-bats that didn’t result in hits were solid.

On Saturday, Jennings was 1 for 3. The one hit was a double that drove in three to put Arizona up 6-0 in the first. That chased Tanner.

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Shockey’s groundout drove in the seventh run, then Trice scored Addison Duke with a single up the middle. If Arizona could keep Baylor under control, it might be on the way to another run rule. It was already 8-0 after the first inning.

Holder continued to have problems in the second inning, though. Her body language indicated she was a bit frustrated with borderline pitches not going her way.

Baylor’s Leah Cran led off the second with a solo shot to put the Bears on the board. A walk and an error by Trice put two on with no outs, then a double made it 8-2. Holder had runners on the corners and still no outs. Another homer and a double made it 8-5, which ended Holder’s day.

Berry entered the game with the bases clear after the 2-run homer. Her first strikeout of the night brought the inning to a close. She continued her run by sitting the side down in order in the third, and her offense responded.

Duke continued to show her power. She had two doubles on Friday. On Saturday, she added a 3-run home run to extend Arizona’s lead to 11-5.

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Arizona didn’t score again, but Berry made the runs stand up. She gave up two singles and a groundout that got a runner on, over, and in during the fourth. In the fifth, she struck out the side but a solo home run was sandwiched in between.

“We can handle the ones thrown up there,” Lowe said. “Offensively, we’re gonna punch back. So I think that’s the biggest thing. Is she was able to keep it within reach?”

Lowe was also pleased that the Wildcats didn’t have to use Jalen Adams. Having another arm or two to use is something Arizona needs.

”It also provides us a different look,” Lowe said. “And she’s such a different look than both Rylie and Jalen are. So it’s just really great to have her as a bridge. It’s great to have her as an open, as a close. I didn’t think she was going to get extended that long, but she absolutely just dominated the end portion of that game.”

While the players are too young to remember the last time Arizona couldn’t close out a series against Baylor, they were happy to get the series win for those who were there nine years ago.

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“When you wear this uniform, everything means everything to everyone,” Shockey said. “So we carry this A with pride, and we did it for those people in 2017. So I hope they felt this win just as much as we did.”

There’s still a goal left to attain this weekend.

“We need the sweep,” Shockey said. “There’s no other expectation…Our coaches have a very high standard for us, and that is the standard.”



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