As the NFL Trade Deadline Approaches (Oct 31)

[BirdGangThing]

Do you see us shopping anyone?

Or us having interest in upgrading at any position?

Maybe rolling with who we got - with no trades on the horizon?

 

[BullheadCardFan]

For the right offer I can see us trading Hollywood

 

[Totally_Red]

We have very little to shop beyond Budda and Hollywood. And I don't see us getting decent compensation for either.

 

[BirdGangThing]

Hollywood
Budda
Gardeck
Hump
Ertz

 

[PJ1]

Brown, Ertz and Baker. If the return is right.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Brown, Ertz and Baker. If the return is right.

All 3 of these for the right price

 

[Snakester]

We could use a left guard, cornerback and defensive lineman big time.

 

[Gandhi]

Here are some trade ideas from ESPN's Bill Barnwell.

Let's create NFL trade offers that help both teams: 15 from Bill Barnwell, including four for Denver

Could the Broncos part ways with several players before the Oct. 31 trade deadline? We proposed 15 logical NFL deals.

www.espn.com

Panthers get: WR Marquise Brown, 2024 third-round pick
Cardinals get: WR Terrace Marshall, 2024 second-round pick

Rookie quarterback Bryce Young desperately needs a wide receiver who can break away from man coverage and threaten teams vertically. The Panthers could address that need in free agency next March by signing Brown, but getting him on their roster now would allow them to start rebuilding Young's confidence after an ugly start to the No. 1 overall pick's career.

Brown is playing out the fifth-year option on his rookie deal, and it doesn't appear the Cardinals are particularly desperate to hand him a new contract. The Steve Keim regime that traded a first-round pick to acquire Brown in April 2022 is no longer in charge. While Arizona could franchise-tag Brown to keep him around for 2024, the chances of the team recouping compensatory picks for him in next year's free agent class seem slim, given that it will likely be spending to add talent to its roster elsewhere, nullifying the compensatory picks as a result.

Some middle ground makes sense. The Cardinals would land what will surely be a high-second-round pick for Brown and send one of their three third-round picks in return. They could specify that the pick will be the middle of their three selections. In addition, they would land a player in need of a fresh start in Marshall, who had 490 receiving yards last season but appears to be falling out of favor with the organization. The 2021 second-round pick, drafted ahead of wideouts Nico Collins and Amon-Ra St. Brown, didn't play during Sunday's loss to the Lions.

The Panthers would need to hand Brown an extension to have this deal make sense, with the 26-year-old likely to command a contract north of $20 million per season on the open market. There's risk in a struggling team trading for a player from a middling offense (see: Claypool, Chase), and Carolina might prefer to wait until free agency and take its chances in adding speed then. Still, Brown would form the future of the Carolina receiving corps alongside rookie second-rounder Jonathan Mingo.

Cowboys get: RB James Conner
Cardinals get: 2025 sixth-round pick (conditional)

The Cardinals were dealt a bad break when Conner suffered a knee injury in Sunday's loss to the Bengals. He had looked good to begin 2023 and would have had a more significant trade value approaching the deadline. With Conner hitting the injured reserve list and missing at least four games, the Cardinals can't expect to get much for the 28-year-old as they rebuild their roster.

Teams can deal players on injured reserve, and Conner would still make sense as a trade candidate, albeit with conditions attached to the package. The compensation here would have to be creative. The Cowboys wouldn't owe anything until Conner scores a touchdown in a Cowboys uniform, protecting them from scenarios in which he is unable to play at a meaningful level after his injury. They would owe a sixth-round pick if Conner scores one touchdown, a fifth-round pick if he finds paydirt four times or a fourth-round selection if he scores six touchdowns and/or runs for 500 yards over the remainder of the season.

Dallas would be adding Conner to help solve its woes inside the red zone. Tony Pollard's nine carries inside the 5-yard line have produced just two touchdowns, while the Cowboys have fallen from first in red zone conversion rate a season ago to 28th this campaign.

Conner is not a superstar, but he has converted 29 touches inside the 5-yard line with the Cardinals into 16 touchdowns while playing behind a middling offensive line. It's a small sample, but that 55% conversion rate is better than the league average for running backs over that time, which is just over 40%. With this affordable deal, Conner could be a valuable 1B to Pollard over the second half of 2023 and into the postseason. If the Cowboys don't feel good about Conner's knee, they might need to dial up an old flame and see if the Patriots are ready to abandon ship on Ezekiel Elliott.

Cardinals get: 2025 sixth-round pick

There's just no reason for Ertz to be on the Cardinals. A team that is rebuilding at worst and tanking at best is paying a 32-year-old tight end more than $9.1 million this season, all while he blocks a path to regular work for Trey McBride, a second-round pick from last year's draft. Ertz doesn't do much more these days than catch passes and fall down -- he's averaging 6.6 yards per reception -- but the former Eagles standout has still drawn a pair of 10-target games this season.

Saying that Ertz is insurance against Travis Kelce getting injured would be foolish, but Ertz would at least give the Chiefs some semblance of a veteran tight end with a feel for finding soft spots in coverage in the case Kelce misses time. The Chiefs dramatically upped their usage of tight ends last season after trading away Tyreek Hill, and the season-ending injury suffered by Jody Fortson in August has probably limited their ability to get to 12 personnel or 13 personnel more often. Ertz is still a big body who can block and serve as a target off play-action in the red zone.

Of course, the Chiefs don't want to pay $6.3 million in prorated salary to bring on a backup plan at tight end, so the Cardinals would need to pay down virtually all of Ertz's salary as a bonus to get this deal done. In the end, he would get a chance to go try to win one more Super Bowl, the Cardinals would save a small amount of money and get a draft pick, McBride would get a chance to play as the top tight end for Arizona and the Chiefs would land a pass-catcher who can mix into their rotation over the remainder of the season.

 

[Vacard]

Nobody wants ERTZ lol

 

[slanidrac16]

Terrance Marshall? Sometimes I think writers just try to find something to write about.

 

[Crimson Warrior]

Not trading McBride for a song.. that's for certain.

His upward performance trajectory has been painfully modest, but he's showing signs this season. Pretty good hands, catch radius and YAC.