The NFL hot stove has been burning for weeks now. Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins and Amari Cooper headline the marquee names that have already been dealt, and there’s sure to be more trade action on the way. We’ll keep you up to date on all of the wheeling and dealing around the league with trade grades for every major move made between now and Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline.
The Denver Broncos traded edge rusher Baron Browning to the Arizona Cardinals for a 2025 sixth-round draft pick.
Why they made the move
The Cardinals have been poking around for pass rush help — they’re 29th in the NFL in pressure rate at 29.3% (league average is 34%), according to Pro Football Focus — and Browning had fallen down the Broncos’ depth chart due to injuries and an emphasis on youth.
Browning, a third-round pick in 2021, is in the final year of his contract. He’s flashed his potential at times with 9.5 sacks over 24 games from 2022-23, but injuries have been part of his story since he entered the league. He was on injured reserve earlier this season with a foot issue and doesn’t have a sack in five games, including two starts.
The Broncos traded linebackers Von Miller and Bradley Chubb before the deadline in 2021 and 2022, partly while hoping Browning could make more of an impact with a bigger opportunity. Head coach Sean Payton took over in 2023 and has since deferred to Jonathon Cooper, Nik Bonitto and Jonah Elliss.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, just jumped into first place in the NFC West with a three-game winning streak against the Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears. The upstarts’ staying power seems real, particularly while the rest of the division deals with a rash of injuries.
The Cardinals are tied for 13th with 21 sacks this season, but that included a half dozen takedowns of Caleb Williams on Sunday. They needed more of a boost to maintain their consistency against better offensive lines down the stretch.
Cardinals grade: B-
General manager Monti Ossenfort has been patient and disciplined with his roster construction both through the draft and free agency. His approach has impressed rival executives, and the Cardinals’ rebuild has been on a faster track than many expected when he took over with head coach Jonathan Gannon in 2023.
The Cardinals aren’t going to miss the draft pick — doubly so because they’ve done a good job with their selections for a couple years. Now they’ve got a chance to tap into Browning’s potential. Maybe the defensive-minded Gannon can find something the Broncos hadn’t. Browning, 25, is hardly a finished product.
“He’s explosive off the ball and I think that’s why he’s able to, to threaten the edge often. So I think he adds that to the locker room.”
Arizona Cardinals LT Paris Johnson Jr. reacts to the team acquiring his former Ohio State teammate, Baron Browning from the Broncos. pic.twitter.com/olGDXmdJeW
— PHNX Cardinals (@PHNX_Cardinals) November 4, 2024
Broncos grade: C+
It’s a little surprising the Broncos would be selling, especially with the defense being the main reason they’ve won five of their last seven games. But they’ve also been winning without Browning being a big contributor.
Payton is decisive when it comes to moves like this. He’s probably known for a while Browning wouldn’t be part of the offseason plans, and this type of move suggests the edge rusher also wasn’t going to have much of a role in the second half of the season.
Considering the Broncos are still scrambling from a cap standpoint after the Russell Wilson release, it is at least mildly useful to save roughly $1.5 million by moving Browning
More trade grades:
• Diontae Johnson: Ravens load up for Super Bowl run; Panthers focus on future
• Josh Uche: Chiefs can’t lose with high-upside deal; Patriots enter sell mode
• DeAndre Hopkins: Chiefs get Patrick Mahomes the help he desperately needed
• Davante Adams: Kudos to Jets for pushing all in; why did Raiders wait so long?
• Amari Cooper: Bills load up; Browns try to make best of bad situation
(Photo of Baron Browning: Greg Fiume / Getty Images)