Adam Rank has the Rams receiver you need to replace Puka Nacua

Marvin Harrison Jr. was one of the biggest Week 1 disappointments in the NFL.

But that doesn’t mean it’s already time to panic about the No. 4 overall pick of the 2024 draft.

While fantasy football fans with Harrison on their teams freaked out after the Arizona wide receiver only caught one ball for four yards during a tough 34-28 road loss to the Buffalo Bills, 16 games remain for Harrison to rack up big points.

Adam Rank, fantasy analyst for NFL Network, exclusively told talkSPORT End Zone that he’s not panicking about Harrison entering Week 2.

“Not even a little bit,” Rank said.

“I hope that when Kyler Murray went back and looked at the game film and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, Marvin Harrison Jr. was wide open for a potential winning touchdown pass.’

“The talent is too immense. And we can’t get too worked up about this for one game. The Cardinals are still trying to work things out. They’ve got a lot of great options.

“James Conner was running really well. Trey McBride was playing really well. That’s only going to help out Marvin Harrison Jr.

“But all those rookie wide receivers, really the first three (draft pick) guys, really did struggle. We didn’t see a lot out of Rome Odunze, although he made a pretty nice play off a deflection.

“Malik Nabers is probably going to be a struggle for the whole year because of Daniel Jones. But Marvin Harrison Jr. is going to be fine.”

On the other side of the field, the Rams will try to replace wide receiver Puka Nacua, who had one of the best rookie receiving seasons in NFL history.

Nacua suffered a knee injury during a season-opening 26-20 overtime loss to the Detroit Lions that could keep him off the field for at least four weeks.

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“Puka Nacua is going to miss a significant amount of time,” Rank said.

“And while people are out there picking up Ty Johnson or Demarcus Robinson or one of those guys, (Jordan) Whittington to me was always the player that Sean McVay had in the back of his mind to be the replacement if something happens to Puka Nacua.

“Now when you’re in a game situation — now obviously he didn’t get a lot of opportunities in Week 1 against the Lions — the point of that is that Puka Nacua was practicing. And those other guys have practiced, they have familiarity with the offense.

“But … this starts with the game install on Wednesday. Well, now the Rams can go out there and put Whittington in Puka’s spot, let him get a full week of practice, and unleash him.

“So everybody who picked up DeMarcus Robinson or Johnson this week is going to be sitting there upset, like, why is Whittington getting all these points?”

The Cardinals (0-1) host the Los Angeles Rams (0-1) on Sunday.

Rank also recommended sticking with Kirk Cousins as Atlanta’s quarterback, despite his Week 1 struggles.

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