Arizona Cardinals Trade for Star Wide Receiver During NFL Draft

The Arizona Cardinals made a big trade during the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. On Thursday night, the Cardinals announced they have traded their first-round pick (No. 23 overall) to the Baltimore Ravens for wider receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. The Cardinals also received a third-round pick from the Ravens. This trade is significant because Brown played with Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray at the University of Oklahoma. Murray is looking to get a new contract from the Cardinals, and the team recently picked up his fifth-year option. 

Once the trade was made, Cardinals general manager Steve Keim said this trade to me would’ve been done regardless,” despite the top receivers being off the board. He also said, “It wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction. I wanted this player.” The interesting thing about the trade is it was done hours before the draft. When the Ravens selected safety Kyle Hamilton No. 14 overall, Brown was on a plane en route to Arizona. And once he arrived in Arizona, Brown was introduced to Cardinals fans at a draft party. 

“(Brown) makes sense for a number of reasons,” Keim said. “Two years of controlled costs, a dynamic receiver who has played inside and outside, obviously the chemistry with our quarterback, and is a vertical threat.” Brown, 24, was selected No. 25 overall by the Ravens in 2019. He had a breakout year last year, catching 91 passes for 1,008 yards and six touchdowns. In 2018, when Brown was at Oklahoma with Murray, the Hollywood, Florida native caught 75 passes for 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns. 

“I always say the club has to win, and this is a situation where it’s going be impossible for the club to truly win,” Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said, per ESPN. “But we do what we think is best for the player. We try to accommodate players when we can; I’m sensitive to that. He would say that he feels happy, which is good. And we made the best of the situation as a club. We used that pick wisely. We got an excellent player and I hope when we look back at this, we’ll see that it’s a tough situation. I hope [Brown’s] in the Pro Bowl, but I also think that this guy that we drafted is going to be in Pro Bowls too. And so that’ll be a heck of a thing.”