Cardinals

Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr. enters the second year of his career after finishing last season with 62 receptions for 885 yards and eight touchdowns. Harrison said learning Arizona’s offense and building chemistry with Kyler Murray brought an obvious adjustment period.

“Obviously, understanding a whole new offense is always an adjustment,” Harrison said, via Albert Breer. “Being on the same page as the quarterback and adjusting to how Kyler [Murray] likes to play, he has a different kind of play style than [other] quarterbacks, you kind of have to adjust to him as well. Obviously going through the season, not playing in the preseason, I feel like it took us a while. It took seeing at least a couple of games to get the flow of it, and that’s the benefit of preseason, you get to go out there and get your feet wet. I didn’t get a chance last year, so I feel like that kind of contributed to it a little bit. But as the year went on, I gained more confidence.”

Harrison wants to play “free” in 2025 and think less on the field. 

“I just want to play free,” Harrison said. “Just out there thinking about plays, expectations, where you got drafted, who you are and who you are compared to, all of that, I didn’t want to think about that anymore. I feel like that’s the biggest thing he’s helped me with. And it’s allowed me to go out there and play free, be who I am, and all the work that I’ve put in, I can go out there and showcase it.”

Rams

Rams LB Chris Paul missed time with an injury but impressed HC Sean McVay in the team’s first preseason game.

“It’s been great to get ‘Pooh’ back out there,” McVay said, via RamsWire.com. “He’s a running-hit type of guy. I thought you felt his presence, and you felt his range out there. He missed a little bit of time with a soft tissue injury, but it was awesome to be able to get him going today. He’s got a good game-day demeanor. I was pleased with what I saw from him.”

• Per Stu Jackson of the team site, McVay said QB Matthew Stafford had no limitations in his throwing session last weekend: “Looking forward to progressing him back into practice on Monday.”
• Per Sarah Barshop, Stafford was in street clothes and didn’t seem to be practicing on Monday, despite McVay previously saying he would participate in individual drills. 

Seahawks

The Seahawks signed QB Sam Darnold the same day Seattle traded QB Geno Smith to the Raiders. Darnold said signing with the Seahawks just “made sense.” 

“It just made sense,” Darnold said, via Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. “The Geno [Smith] trade went down, I thought, O.K., this could be an interesting place. Then, with the conversations my agent was having with people in the front office, it all kind of made sense to me. Obviously, there were a couple other teams, which I won’t get into detail about. But, yeah, I’ll just say it made a ton of sense.”

Macdonald recalled when he was an assistant on the Ravens’ staff when they faced Darnold on the 49ers in 2023. Darnold entered late in the game with San Francisco down 33-12, leading them to a touchdown. 

“Trust me, it’s never garbage time,” Macdonald said. “We’re calling it to stop them, we’re not trying to give up anything, but you’re right. He came in, I thought he played decisive, he was accurate, and they moved the ball on us, quickly. I mean, he hit a couple ’hots’ that pierced us, the in-cuts, they threw the one touchdown that crossed our safety’s face in the red zone, which was a great ball. And then the interception he threw, that’s a ball he has to throw, last play of the game to try to score points. Our guy made a great play. I remember just like, Dang, O.K., feeling like I could feel him in the game.”

Darnold mentioned that he’s always been an “introverted” type of person. He drew inspiration from how 49ers QB Brock Purdy operated during his year there in 2023. 

“I’ve always been introverted, I grew up as a shy kid, so that’s kind of who I am naturally,” Darnold said. “For me it was always, I was very worried about what my teammates or what people thought about me. And I think when all the stuff happened in New York and then some stuff happened in Carolina—good, bad, ugly, those three years in New York, the two years in Carolina, then I was like, Dude… And then I go to San Francisco and, to be honest, I saw Brock operate and he’s just a very about-his-business kind of guy. He was just, every single day, come in, same routine, same deal, he wasn’t very vocal and he would just get the job done. And I realized like O.K., I can just be myself.”