Although he has only been with the Arizona Cardinals for three games, Robbie Anderson has been a massive disappointment early on.
Before the regular season began, Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim traded for cornerback Trayvon Mullen. Since the trade, Mullen has rewarded the Cardinals with 57 snaps, 20 of which occurred on defense, and 37 on special teams. It’s safe to say Mullen has been a massive disappointment, but at least Keim didn’t give up anything more than a late-round draft pick for the maligned corner.
A few weeks back, Keim pulled off another trade, this one for receiver Robbie Anderson. Anderson, who had been disgruntled and a bit of a head case during his final days with the Carolina Panthers, came to the Cardinals for a sixth round pick in 2024 and a seventh round pick in 2025.
Despite the low trade compensation, Anderson was supposed to come in and produce. This is a receiver who logged 95 receptions just two seasons ago, his first with the Carolina Panthers. Last season, he caught just 53 passes and had a 48.2% catch percentage, but he still managed five touchdown grabs.
Anderson heading toward the Arizona Cardinals muck pile
This season, Anderson’s stats weren’t bad with Carolina, with 13 receptions on 27 targets. However, he was establishing himself as a deep threat with 15.8 yards per reception. And with A.J. Green falling back to Earth in 2022, Keim knew the Cardinals needed a deep threat to join former All-Pros DeAndre Hopkins and Zach Ertz, plus the reliable and surehanded Marquise Brown.
Since pulling off the trade, Anderson has been nothing short of a disappointment in the early going. I’ll give him the free pass in his first game against New Orleans, since he barely knew the playbook having been with the Cardinals for just days.
But in the games that followed, you’d think he would have logged more than one measly reception on seven targets. Want more fun? That single catch went for -4 yards. His current numbers with the Cardinals have been pathetic, with -0.6 yards per target and -1.3 yards per game.
You may say it’s only been three contests, but how many receivers of Anderson’s serviceable floor have you seen log negatives after three games? Let me know if you can think of any in the comments, because I can’t name a single player off the top of my head.
(Statistics provided by Pro-Football-Reference)
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