They drafted Harrison so highly because that’s where virtually every scout placed him and a WR1 was a major need. Sadly Harrison hasn’t been that player so far, but I anticipate a more productive season this year.Great point. MB was ingrained into the Cards from his childhood. I remember seeing him when he was a kid down on the practice field during training camp---interacting with the players. He's seen the great players/RBs from OJ Anderson, Metcalf, Stump, Jim Otis, Wayne Morris, Larry Centers, etc up to JC. He also has a memory of the Cards passing on some great RBs---including Adrian Peterson so we could draft a LT. He probably has that in mind as he considers this draft.
During the Coryell era in St. Louis, Jim Hanifan was the OL coach. He was notorious for believing that he could take a decent athlete and turn him into a OL starter. He did that with DL Roger Finnie before he was cut. (That's not a typo, he was a DL) and Hanifan converted him into a pretty good RT. Hanifan did not want to 'waste' draft capital on a OL.
MB is also sentimental and wants to revisit past success. I think that was probably why we drafted MHJ so high---MB wanted to get a Fitz replacement and recreate Denny Green's bold move to take Fitz in the draft---when we already had Boldin.
Don't underestimate the MB mindset in all these discussions about the draft.
One thing Hanifan wanted was mean, tough linemen. He loved nasty players. The Cards’ OL was often called dirty. That was probably accurate. They were no fun to play.