NFL trade deadline: One move every team should make
By Joe Schiller
With the NFL trade deadline approaching in just a week, there will be plenty of trade speculation. Here’s a move every team should consider before the deadline passes.
32. Arizona Cardinals: Trade for A.J. McCarron
It’s time to get young in Arizona. Carson Palmer, Adrian Peterson, and Larry Fitzgerald are all 32 years or older and sooner or later, their time is going to be up. With Palmer and David Johnson out, the Cardinals are out of the playoff picture this year. This poses the perfect time to make a trade ahead of the deadline, especially at the quarterback position.
If I’m general manager Steve Keim, I’m on the phone with the Cincinnati Bengals trying to work out a trade for backup quarterback A.J. McCarron. McCarron is a young quarterback that would fit perfectly into the Cardinals offense. In three starts as a rookie in 2015, he threw for over 500 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. McCarron isn’t a quarterback that’s going to wow you in the stat book but he will put his team in positions to win games.
Palmer is 37 years old and no matter if he stayed healthy this season or not, the Cardinals need to think about the future. With Drew Stanton and Blaine Gabbert as the current backups, that doesn’t bring much confidence for the future. If you pair McCarron with the likes of a healthy David Johnson next season then the Cardinals are getting somewhere.
This move wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility at all. The Bengals tried to move McCarron before the NFL draft but couldn’t find any suitors. If the Cardinals offer the right price, it could be enough to acquire the third year quarterback before the trade deadline.