Arizona Cardinals WR Andy Isabella’s True Trade Value

In his 2019 NFL post draft press conference, Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim had high praise for his second round pick. 

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Andy Isabella truly thought he found true trade value. After all, the 5’9″ speedster from The University of Massachusetts had led the nation receiving yardage in the 2018 college football season. Isabella had amassed nearly 1,700 yards on 102 receptions and scored 13 touchdowns.

Keim raved about that production from Isabella despite going up against top Division I Schools such as Georgia. Isabella (62nd overall) was the key pick in the trade of Josh Rosen to the Miami Dolphins. Keim wanted to hit on this pick especially after what happened in the ordeal of Rosen.

The Cardinals drafted QB Kyler Murray to replace Rosen at quarterback after only one season. Isabella’s 4.3 speed in the 40 was enticing to the Cardinals. Keim wanted that speed, so he and coach Kliff Kingsbury opted to draft the Minuteman from U Mass.

The real comparison is to look for a player with stats similar to Isabella’s in his first three years, and the resulting research not only found a player but that same player was traded. That gives the market value for a trade proposal.

The N’Keal Harry Trade gives the Arizona Cardinals an idea regarding Andy Isabella’s trade value.

Wide receiver N’Keal Harry of the New England Patriots was traded to the Chicago Bears for a seventh round choice in 2024. Getting any return value two years later is not saying much for that player’s worth. Some trade value chart enthusiasts calculate a seventh round pick in two years to be worth a round lower for each of those years.

That equates to a ninth round pick. The NFL’s last year with ninth round selections was in 1992.  That was also the last year the NFL had a12 round draft. According to the chart below, Chicago Bear wide receiver N’Keal Harry has had a better career in his three seasons when compared to that of Andy Isabella.

The troublesome part for Arizona Cardinals fans is your second round pick only had one reception in 2021. That makes it tough to ask another NFL team’s  GM for a valuable draft pick. The following stats are from Pro-Football-Reference: 

Harry: 57 receptions, 598 yards, 10.5 average, 4 touchdowns, 33 games

Isabella: 31 receptions, 426 yards, 13.7 average, 3 touchdowns, 36 games

Moving on to the 2022 preseason, the Cardinals gave Isabella plenty of snaps in their three games. His 15 receptions for 226 yards were plenty enough to showcase his talent for a prospective trade. However, the level of competition lacked a proper evaluation.

Andy Isabella’s performance in the Titans game is broken down in the second page of the thread.  He caught five receptions for 115 yards. Different defenders in the Titans secondary are seen in coverage in the video link.

A second round talent should be a starter and a thorough evaluation should not be made against backups, practice squad candidates or worse yet players who were waived. The regular season starts Sunday. Cardinals star receiver DeAndre Hopkins will be out for six games. Andy Isabella has his window of opportunity to show the 2022 Arizona Cardinals he belongs on their 53 man roster. That is the only way potential trade value can be achieved.

(Statistics provided by Pro-Football-Reference)