Michael Wilson — Week 1: Seven Targets to Harrison's Three
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Wilson was thrown to seven times, third on the Cardinals behind Trey McBride's 13 and Kendrick Bourne's eight, and caught five for 56 yards and three first downs, the biggest a 14-yard conversion on third and four with 5:33 left in the third quarter. Marvin Harrison was targeted three times, in a 26–14 win over the Chargers.
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16 to 14, Cardinals, five 33 left in the third quarter, third and four at the Arizona 27, no huddle. Jacoby Brissett threw short right to Michael Wilson for 14 yards to the 41 and the first down, with a too-many-men penalty on the Chargers declined. The play was worth +1.9 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 6.3 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it; among Arizona's passes and runs, only Brissett's first-quarter scramble and a third-down throw to Kendrick Bourne moved the game more. The drive ended in a punt.
The line: seven targets, five catches, 56 yards, three first downs, +1.9 expected points on the targets. Three targets before halftime for two catches and 19 yards; four after for three and 37. The longest was 17, deep right on first and 10 at the Chargers 42 with nine 21 left in the third, up 13 to seven, pushed out of bounds at the 25, +1.1, on the drive that ended in a field goal. The two catches before halftime came on the drive that closed the half, nine and 10 yards short right in the last 62 seconds, and Arizona kicked the field goal that made it 13 to seven. The one that went wrong was his first target: third and four at the Chargers 36 on the first snap of the second quarter, tied seven to seven, incomplete deep left, −1.2 expected points and −5.6 points of win probability, the largest loss on any Cardinals pass or run all day. Two third-down targets, one conversion.
Seven targets were third on the team: 13 to McBride, eight to Bourne, seven to Wilson, four to Jeremiyah Love, three to Marvin Harrison, two to Tyler Allgeier, none without a receiver. Among the wide receivers that is Bourne eight, Wilson seven, Harrison three. Arizona ran 21 pass plays before halftime and 17 after, and Wilson's targets went three and four; his 56 yards were third on the team behind McBride's 95 and Bourne's 75.
Back in June the preview called Wilson underpriced, a lean — the twentieth receiver per game a year ago on a hundred 26 targets and a clean touchdown share, priced as the 30-eighth, behind a teammate he had outfinished by a tier and a half. The thing to watch was the target share with a healthy Harrison in the room: whether Wilson stayed the alpha. Sunday it was seven to Harrison's three, and both of them were behind Bourne and well behind McBride. One game is a small sample for a share, and this one had the order the preview expected. Arizona is home to the Seahawks on Sunday the twentieth.
_Data via nflverse._
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