Cardinals trade for Robbie Anderson after losing Marquise Brown to potentially season-ending injury

When the Arizona Cardinals take the field Thursday night at home against the New Orleans Saints to kick off Week 7, Kyler Murray's wide receiver group will look quite different. His current No. 1 and former Oklahoma teammate Marquise Brown might miss the rest of the season after suffering a foot injury in Sunday's loss to the Seahawks. Murray will get back former Pro Bowler DeAndre Hopkins from suspension on Thursday, however, and today the Cards traded for Carolina's Robbie Anderson.

When Anderson was sent to the Panthers' locker room mid-game by interim coach Steve Wilks on Sunday against the Rams, it was pretty evident that Anderson was going to be shipped out. During the first half, Anderson was spotted by Fox's broadcast cameras having a heated discussion with receivers coach Joe Dailey. In the third quarter, Anderson sat by himself on a cooler while the rest of the offense talked strategy on the sideline and then had another exchange with Dailey. That was the final straw for Wilks.

"It was a sideline-type situation that I felt like I wanted to try to get him in (the locker room) at the moment, and that's something that we'll discuss as we further get into the week," Wilks said.

Anderson wasn't having a good season with only 13 catches for 206 yards and a touchdown, but is a former 1,000-yard receiver and has been hampered by Carolina's poor quarterback play. The Cardinals sent Carolina a 2024 sixth-round pick and a 2025 seventh-round selection in exchange for Anderson. The trade creates roughly $9.7 million in dead cap money for the Panthers over the next two years, but they are now off the hook for Anderson's $12 million salary in 2023.

Brown, who was acquired by the Cardinals from the Baltimore Ravens during this year's NFL draft, has 43 catches for 485 yards and three touchdowns on the year, but Arizona has yet to score 30 points and has reached 400 yards in a game just once. Hopkins should help there, as he has had six 1,000-yard seasons in his career. In 10 games last year, he had 42 catches for 572 yards and eight scores. 

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