The Carolina Panthers just made a phenomenal trade for 2020 first-round pick CJ Henderson of the Jacksonville Jaguars. What did they give up?
The Carolina Panthers have proven over the course of 2021 that they aren’t afraid of making bold trades. They proved that initially by sending some pretty substantial draft compensation to the New York Jets for quarterback Sam Darnold.
So far, so good with that one.
Now, they have turned some Thursday Night Football misfortune into a really savvy trade involving some more substantial draft compensation…and a player.
Carolina Panthers make bold trade for CJ Henderson
Trade! The #Panthers are closing in on a trade for CB CJ Henderson, sources say.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 27, 2021
The details: CAR TE Dan Arnold and a third-round pick to the #Jaguars for the former Jax first-round pick Henderson and a fifth-rounder. Immediate help in Carolina, while Henderson starts new.
The Carolina Panthers somehow were able to trade their TE2 (more on that in a bit) for a possible CB1 and they got a 5th-round pick in return?
As of right now, the third-round pick going back to the Jacksonville Jaguars should be a later third-round pick. Barring some kind of serious collapse from the Panthers — who are playing way too good defensively to expect that — that third-round pick is going to be borderline negligible.
The Panthers lost their second-round pick in the Sam Darnold trade, but they will still have a first-round pick and a boatload of talent on both sides of the ball to continue loading up this young roster.
It seems like Dan Arnold might have had more to do with this trade getting done than initially meets the eye. He had four touchdowns last season with the Arizona Cardinals and has made a couple of nice plays in recent weeks, but the Carolina Panthers certainly weren’t featuring him.
Arnold had played over 80 snaps compared to the 60 snaps of rookie tight end Tommy Tremble, a heck of an athlete in this year’s rookie class coming out of Notre Dame.
Although Tremble just caught his first pass on the Thursday night victory over the Houston Texans, the Panthers have apparently seen enough from him to have the confidence that he can be the number one guy moving forward.
Carolina also still has former fourth-round pick Ian Thomas in the fold at tight end.
For the Carolina Panthers, though, this trade is all about replacing Jaycee Horn for the time being and complementing him in the future.
The foot injury to Jaycee Horn is certainly a blow to the Panthers’ optimism for the 2021 season, but the addition of CJ Henderson sort of revives that optimism.
Henderson was the ninth overall pick just one year ago. The fact that the Jaguars are already selling low on him is just another reason for Jags fans to maybe not trust Urban Meyer, whose team is now 0-3 to start the season.
How many other teams are trading top-10 picks just a year after drafting the guy at one of the game’s most important positions?
This is a hilariously bad move by the Jaguars just on principle, regardless of how Henderson’s career turns out.
On the other side of the coin, good for the Carolina Panthers believing in their current roster and believing enough in their culture to bring a player like Henderson in and believe that he can have success right away.