Cardinals acquire Anderson in trade after Brown injury
The Arizona Cardinals acquired wide receiver Robbie Anderson on Monday, one day after wide receiver Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown suffered a foot injury that could end his season.
Brown, who was acquired by the Cardinals from the Baltimore Ravens during this year’s draft, has 43 receptions for 485 yards and three touchdowns in six games this season.
The Cardinals indicated in a statement that they acquired Anderson for undisclosed draft compensation.
Anderson’s trade comes a day after the wide receiver was ejected from the game by Carolina Panthers interim head coach Steve Wilks after arguing on the bench with his position coach.
“Nobody is more important than the team,” Wilks said of Anderson on Sunday following the 24-10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in his first game since replacing Matt Rhule, who was fired last Monday. “I’m not going to focus and put a lot of attention on one person.”
Anderson got into a heated argument with Panthers receivers coach Joe Dailey toward the end of the first half and started the second half on an exercise bike wearing a cap instead of his helmet. Later in the third quarter, Anderson sat alone on a cooler while the rest of the offense analyzed strategy on the bench.
Later in the third quarter, with the Panthers trailing 17-10 and having failed to get a first down since the first quarter, Anderson and Dailey again argued. Wilks intervened and sent Anderson to the locker room.
Anderson said he had “no idea” why he was sent to the locker room. Dailey was unavailable for comment, but Anderson decided to talk to the press after meeting with general manager Scott Fitterer.
“I was honestly confused,” Anderson sentenced. “I wanted to be in the game. No one had ever yelled at me to take me out of a game. So I was honestly confused and upset about it. I should have been. I don’t see anyone who is a true competitor, who knows the value they bring and has a true passion for the game, being calm when they’re told not to do something or pulled out when they didn’t do anything wrong.”
Anderson joins a Cardinals team that stalled at 2-4 with its loss Sunday. Star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is scheduled to return from a six-game suspension for violating NFL substance abuse policies this week and the team’s offense has had enough trouble without him.
The nine points scored by the Cardinals on Sunday tied the second-fewest under head coach Kliff Kingsbury. The Cardinals have yet to score 30 points this season and have reached the 400-yard barrier in a game just once. Quarterback Kyler Murray said after Sunday’s game that Arizona’s offense hasn’t been this bad since his rookie year.
“That’s the last time it felt like that,” he sentenced. “We just feel like it’s tough out there right now. Tough. That’s how it feels. A lot of that is self-inflicted, we brought it on ourselves. We’ve got to get better.”
Anderson was brought to Carolina by Rhule in 2020 after he played four seasons with the New York Jets. He played for Rhule at Temple and his career seemed to resurface when he set a personal best with 95 receptions for 1,096 yards last season.
Anderson received a two-year, $29.5 million contract extension through 2023 before the 2021 campaign, then struggled and totaled just 53 receptions for 519 yards.
Anderson did not have any receptions Sunday. He came into the game with 13 receptions for 206 yards –75 of them on a touchdown in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns on a Baker Mayfield pass.
The Cardinals will assume Anderson’s $575,000 salary for the remainder of the year, while the Panthers — who restructured his contract in March — will take a $20 million dead money hit on the salary cap spread between this year and next.
