The Arizona Cardinals acquired wide receiver Robbie Anderson on Monday, a day after wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown suffered a foot injury that will sideline him indefinitely.
Brown suffered a potentially season-ending injury in Arizona’s 19-9 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Brown, who told reporters Sunday that X-rays on his foot were negative, underwent further testing Monday to determine the extent of the injury, and will get a second opinion, a source told Schefter. Whether he can return this season will depend on the second opinion and his recovery, the source said.
Brown, who was acquired by the Cardinals from the Baltimore Ravens during this year’s NFL draft, has 43 receptions for 485 yards and three touchdowns in six games this season.
The Cardinals said in a statement that they acquired Anderson for undisclosed draft compensation. Sources told Schefter the Panthers will receive a 2024 sixth-round pick and a 2025 seventh-round selection.
Brown’s injury wasn’t the only major one suffered by a Cardinals starter on Sunday. Left guard Justin Pugh will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL in his right knee, a source told ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss. Pugh started all five of the games he played this season after restructuring the final year of his contract to return for the 2022 season. Pugh contemplated retirement after the season but the former first-round pick out of Syracuse was given an opportunity to return for a 10th season and worked to get back in football shape.
The trade comes a day after Anderson was kicked out of a game by Panthers interim coach Steve Wilks following sideline arguments with his position coach.
“No one is bigger than the team,” Wilks said Sunday after a 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 individual.”
Anderson got into a shouting match with Panthers receivers coach Joe Dailey late in the first half and opened the second half on a stationary bicycle wearing a baseball cap. Late in the third quarter, Anderson sat by himself on a cooler while the rest of the offense talked strategy on the sideline.
Then, later in the third quarter with the Panthers trailing 17-10 and without a first down since the first quarter, Anderson and Dailey again had an exchange. Wilks stepped in and sent Anderson to the locker room.
Anderson said he “had no idea” why he was sent to the locker room. Dailey was not available for comment, but Anderson opted to talk to reporters after meeting with general manager Scott Fitterer.
“I was honestly confused,” Anderson said. “I wanted to be in the game. I’ve never had somebody yell to get out of the game. So I was honestly confused and upset by that. I should be. I don’t see nobody that is a true competitor, that knows the value they bring and has true passion for the game, that will be OK with being told not to do something or being taken out of something when they didn’t do nothing wrong.”
Anderson joins a Cardinals team that fell to 2-4 with their loss Sunday. Star receiver DeAndre Hopkins is scheduled to return from a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs this week and the team’s offense has struggled without him.
The nine points the Cardinals scored Sunday were tied for the second-fewest under coach Kliff Kingsbury. The Cardinals have yet to score 30 points this season and have reached 400 yards in a game just once. Quarterback Kyler Murray said after the game Sunday that Arizona’s offense hasn’t been this bad since his rookie year.
“That’s the last time s—‘s felt this hard,” he said. “We just feel it’s tough out there right now. Tough. That’s what it feels like. A lot of it it’s self-inflicted, put it on ourselves. Got to get better.”
Anderson was brought to Carolina by Rhule, for whom he had played at Temple, in 2020 after four seasons with the New York Jets. His career seemed to be resurrected when he had a career-high 95 catches for 1,096 yards that season.
He was given a two-year, $29.5 million extension through 2023 before the 2021 season, then struggled to only 53 catches for 519 yards.
Anderson didn’t have a catch Sunday. He entered the game with 13 catches for 206 yards — 75 of them on a touchdown in the opener against the Cleveland Browns on a pass from Baker Mayfield.
The Cardinals will take on Anderson’s $575,000 salary for the rest of the year, while the Panthers — who restructured his contract in March — will take a $20 million dead-cap hit spread across this season and next.
ESPN’s David Newton contributed to this report.