Marquise Brown named trade target for Panthers in hypothetical deal

With a pretty distinct chance of entering their Week 7 bye at 0-6, the Carolina Panthers could very well be sellers sooner rather than later. But what if they wanted to buy ahead of the Halloween trade deadline?

ESPN staff writer Bill Barnwell recently concocted 15 hypothetical trade proposals for 15 notable players. Among those swaps is one for Arizona Cardinals wideout Marquise Brown, where the Panthers are on the receiving end.

Barnwell would have Carolina bringing in the former first-round pick and a 2024 third-round pick in exchange for receiver Terrace Marshall Jr. and a 2024 second-rounder. He writes:

The Panthers would need to hand Brown an extension to have this deal make sense, with the 26-year-old likely to command a contract north of $20 million per season on the open market. There’s risk in a struggling team trading for a player from a middling offense (see: Claypool, Chase), and Carolina might prefer to wait until free agency and take its chances in adding speed then. Still, Brown would form the future of the Carolina receiving corps alongside rookie second-rounder Jonathan Mingo.

Given the Panthers’ slim-to-none chances of actually making a run at the playoffs (and Slim may have just left the building), they are probably better off taking their chances at the open market. Plus, parting with yet another high-end piece of draft capital after their deal for this year’s top overall selection may not really help said top overall selection.

Nonetheless, Carolina is certainly on the lookout to help Young. Whether they get that help within the next few weeks or the next few months is the real question.