Revenge Rapid Reactions: Cardinals trade for Raiders’ C Rodney Hudson

Cardinals Trade a 3rd round pick for Pro Bowl C Rodney Hudson and a 7th round pick

How did the staff writers react to this deal to upgrade the offensive line for Kyler Murray?

Andy Kwong:

Blake Murphy:

Whew. *sigh of relief*

I’m glad that the desire to upgrade this spot wasn’t all for naught after Linsley left to LA.

The NFL is all about opportunity, and cost. And the negative picture here is...that missing out on Linsley in free agency cost Arizona a 3rd round pick that bailed out GM Steve Keim. That said...

What an opportunity. What an upgrade.

Before going over the tape in the offseason from Arizona’s perspective, I felt that WR2 was the biggest upgrade needed. After I rewatched the games, I changed that to “starting center.” Team still needs some corners, sure, but despite the age of 32, players of Hudson’s caliber don’t hit the market often.

This weird 2021 year with a lower cap might be part of it...or maybe lightning just strikes twice with a fallout with his head coach in Jon Gruden like it did for Hopkins with O’Brien a year ago. While Hudson is 32, his durability and play has never been in doubt, and he’s likely to stick around for at least the remainder of Kyler Murray’s rookie contract. He’s a tough-nosed grader of a player, and a FAR better option than Arizona having to potentially sign Alex Mack & draft a center early on Day 1 or 2.

The Cards needed two splashes this offseason on the lines. With Hudson being added along J.J. Watt, it gives a “no excuses” setup for GM Keim and HC Kingsbury, and probably are up there as “offseason winners.”

Now we just have to hope that all these aging 30+ year old vets translate during the season.

John Venerable:

This was the move that Steve Keim needed to make, even more so than JJ Watt. Rodney Hudson is now anchoring an offensive line that has been historically soft up the middle.

His arrival will do wonders for the likes of Kyler Murray and this late season sputtering offense. While things still need to shakeout at guard, the Cardinals have to feel good about where they stand at both tackle positions and center.

Robert Ban:

This team has had long standing issues with consistent pass protection, and this should go a long way to address that. I’m also pleasantly surprised that it did not cost them their second rounder, a price that I would have found close to prohibitive given the relative value of IOL.

Seth Cox:

Walter Mitchell:

I asked this a.m. why the Raiders weren’t trying to trade Rodney Hudson instead of simply releasing him, figuring he wanted to go back to KC, bc I was thinking the only chance the Cardinals had of acquiring him was for LV to block KC

Trade guru Keim got it done!

Unless a major “can’t miss” prospect is on board at #16, I think we can expect SK to try to recover the Hudson 3rd rounder by trading down from #16 into the 20s. K2, K1, DHop, Chase, Kugs and his dawgs must be over the moon right now. May be best Cards’ OL since 1970s.

What are your thoughts on the Hudson signing? Excited? Too much? Sound off in the comments!