Let's grade some trades, starting with the Monday move of Robbie Anderson from the Carolina Panthers to the Arizona Cardinals. We'll continue to add deals until the NFL trade deadline Nov. 1.
I'm a big believer in judging decisions based on information available at the time. Saying, «Let's see how it plays out» isn't an option for general managers making deals for their teams, so why should be it for us evaluating those transactions?
When I'm grading trades, I evaluate them for each team based on on-field impact, cap implications, draft compensation and effects within the context of a team's overall short- and long-term outlook. I like to think about decisions on two axes:
How confident are we in knowing if this is a good or bad decision?
How big is the impact of this decision?
They'll both play a role in the grades, though a low-impact decision can still receive a strong or poor mark. Low-stakes, clear-cut wins or losses still matter.
Let's get into the three deals made since the season started.
Arizona Cardinals get: WR Robbie AndersonCarolina Panthers get: Sixth-round pick in 2024, seventh-round pick in 2025Trade date: Oct. 17
Grade for the Cardinals: C
Even with DeAndre Hopkins coming back from suspension, the Cardinals need help at receiver — Marquise Brown suffered a potentially season-ending foot injury Sunday, per Adam Schefter. A.J. Green, who has run the second-most routes among Cardinals WRs this year, ranks last among all qualifying wide receivers and tight ends — and it's not even close — in overall score on our new Receiver Tracking Metrics (RTMs) with a 22. Green also ranks last in yards per route run among wide receivers with at least 75 routes.
The problem is that Anderson is no Brown and might be only a
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