On Sunday, news broke that Marvin Harrison Jr. was being traded from the Arizona Cardinals to the Houston Texans for a deal centered around a second-round pick… maybe.

Announcing the potential move on social media, Adam Schefter noted that Harrison Jr. was likely being traded and that he was likely going to be heading to Houston, but the deal wasn't going to get done until after both teams played on Sunday, leading to an awkward situation for both teams, their fans, and the rest of the NFL, who maybe still could have gotten in on the action?

Stopping by The Pat McAfee Show to talk turkey, ESPN Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter broke down why he had to be so specific with his wording around the trade, as he wanted to pass along the most up-to-date information without prematurely shooting his shot just in case things changed.

“You know, that was amazing because, again, I saw some of these comments. What do people want us to do? Like, that was the situation. Like, he was told he was inactive. He was told he's being traded. I think we all suspected that it was going to be the Houston Texans. We linked to them right away. I thought it was the Colts… And so, like, people think you're holding, like, no, no, no. I need to be able to report the team. You need somebody to say, ‘We're getting this done,'” Schefter explained.

“Nobody in Arizona was saying Houston. Nobody in Houston was saying Houston. So, if I put out there he's being traded to Houston, and then all of a sudden they play the game Sunday, and then let's just say Houston loses, and they decide to back out, and they trade him to the Colts, then you're wrong, right? So, this was always the case.

“I was surprised by this. He was being traded. We put out the information we had, and he was, right, ‘Oh, you're trying to give Arizona market.’ No, we're not. You were surprised? The trade was consummated. Basically, it was in the works. The parameters were essentially agreed to, I guess. And then DeMeco Ryans comes after the game, ‘we're trading for Marvin Harrison.’ That's it.”

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Is there a world where the Texans get blown out in Week 5 and suddenly decide to punt on the season, hitting the collegiate pavement hard to find their next franchise quarterback instead of going all-in on CJ Stroud? Maybe so, and as a result, reporters like Schefter had to be very careful with how they reported the news, just in case.