TEMPE, Ariz. -- When Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson trot onto the field at SoFi Stadium for the Arizona Cardinals' first offensive series of the season against the Chargers on Sept. 13, how they line up, where they line up and how they'll be used will look familiar to anyone who watched the Rams' offense last year.
And the reasoning makes sense. New Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur spent the past three seasons as the Rams' offensive coordinator, occupying a front-row seat to watch how head coach and playcaller Sean McVay utilized two of his best weapons.
While LaFleur hasn't gone into details about what his scheme will look like, he did offer a breadcrumb: Harrison and Wilson, who's coming off his first 1,000-yard season, will have roles similar to those of Davante Adams and Puka Nacua.
"It's the same offense, very similar," Wilson told ESPN. "And, so, the Puka role is really just the "Z" receiver and the Davante role is really just the "X." I think [LaFleur] would just probably use those two guys because it's easy to kind of picture to the average fan who doesn't know specifics about ball to kind of see what role you'd be doing."
LaFleur said Harrison would fill the Adams role and Wilson would be more of the Nacua role.
What's known about LaFleur's system, beyond who the "X" and "Z" receivers will be, is that it'll be a version of the West Coast offense. However, looking at how Adams and Nacua lined up, what kind of routes they ran and how they fared could be a preview of how LaFleur will utilize his receivers.
"I think it fits both of me and Marv's skill sets, and obviously if you're the 'Z,' you're going to have to do a lot in the run game and you're asked to be in the point of attack at a lot of runs," Wilson said. "So, definitely, going to have to tighten my chin strap up and embrace that, which I've always been good in the run game.
"So, I'm really excited for the season that I think this offense is going to do a great job of highlighting whoever's out there."
Last season, Nacua led the NFL in receptions and receiving yards per game, was second in total receiving yards with 1,715, and fourth in targets and yards per target. Adams had 789 receiving yards on 60 catches and 112 targets. He also led the NFL with 14 touchdown catches.
Even though Harrison is being slotted as the "X" receiver, who traditionally played outside along the boundary, he won't solely line up outside.
"What's unique about this system, and not just the Arizona Cardinals, but the systems that run something similar, is you can move them inside and outside on a whim, just in terms of our formations, our motions and all that kind of stuff," LaFleur said. "So, you don't want to say you can protect them by bringing people inside, but you can just utilize their skill sets in different ways."
Adams ran 62.1% of his routes from the left side, where he caught 65% of his passes and gained 64.5% of his yards, according to ESPN Research. He lined up in the slot on just 15.5% of his routes, while catching the same number of touchdowns on either side of the line.
Last season in Los Angeles as the "X," Adams, who primarily played on the left side, was the Rams' red zone option. He led the NFL with 12 receiving touchdowns in the red zone, according to ESPN Research. Adams ran mostly vertical routes last season -- 41.1% of his total routes, to be exact. He caught 15 passes on those routes for 324 yards. Adams' next most successful route was his inside short route; he caught 11 passes for 54 yards.
Harrison was asked if anything will significantly change in his role in LaFleur's offense from what he did during his first two seasons in the scheme of former offensive coordinator Drew Petzing.
"No, I don't think so," he said.
However, Harrison did say that he doesn't think defenses can key on one of the Cardinals' playmakers because there are so many, including tight end Trey McBride and rookie running back Jeremiyah Love to complement himself and Wilson.
"If someone does, you get the one-on-one matchup and I kind of have trust and everybody go win those," Harrison said. "So, it's definitely exciting."
Last season, Nacua led the Rams with 10.3 yards per target and showed how versatile he could be, eclipsing 100 yards on seven different routes.
While all four Arizona receivers have different body types and specialties, LaFleur spent OTAs and minicamp identifying their strengths and molding the offense -- and their roles in the scheme -- to what they do well.
"Mike's a great offensive mind," Wilson said, "and even through eight practices or nine practices of OTAs, you can see how he's asking all of the players to do things that they're already good at. And so that's what I like. That's all you can ask for as a player.
"Just, 'Coach, put me in a position to where I can show off my skill set and help perform and win games for the organization.'"