The Houston Texans pulled off a blockbuster trade for Marvin Harrison Jr. after their Week 5 win over the Tennessee Titans, as they avoided a 0-5 start to the year.
During head coach DeMeco Ryans’ post-game press conference, he told reporters that the Texans had, in fact, traded for Harrison from the Arizona Cardinals. But there was just one issue.
As ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss reports, Ryans actually ruined the Cardinals’ plan for announcing the Harrison trade. How did he do that? Well, Ryans revealed the trade before the Cardinals were hoping to make it known.
How DeMeco Ryans ruined Cardinals’ trade announcement plan with Marvin Harrison Jr.
“But, Nick Caserio said, Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort didn’t want to tell Harrison where he was headed until after the game against the Lions,” Weinfuss writes. “Ryans’ announcement, however, blew the cover off that plan as the Cardinals game was just starting.”
The Cardinals were hoping to play the entirety of their afternoon game against the Detroit Lions before announcing the trade of Harrison.
While the now-Texans WR knew he was going to be traded, he didn’t know which team he was going to join. But the Texans spoiled it a few hours before the Cardinals intended.
Ryans told reporters that the Texans were trading for Harrison shortly after the team’s 1:00 p.m. EST game against the Titans, which came a few hours before the Cardinals initially planned to make the destination known.
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Ryans said, “You guys want to know? Huh? Yes, alright, we traded for Marvin Harrison.” Based on this report from Weinfuss, this quote from Ryans might’ve been the first time Harrison heard of where he was actually going.
While the indications had been that the Texans were the team rumored to be trading for Harrison, it hadn’t been confirmed yet when Ryans told the world of the trade.
It didn’t impact the outcome of the trade, as the Texans still gave up a second-round pick and a seventh-rounder to land Harrison from the Cardinals. But Ryans did ruin the Cardinals’ plan regarding the announcement of the Harrison trade.
