C.J. Henderson trade grade: Panthers early great marks, Jaguars middling

C.J. Henderson was on the trade block heading into the 2021 NFL season and the Panthers took full advantage of that, striking a deal with the Jaguars.

The Carolina Panthers had a rough week in terms of injury with running back Christian McCaffrey and rookie first-round cornerback Jaycee Horn both leaving the game. With broken bones in his foot, the latter, who had been quite impressive to start the year, is slated to miss substantial time. But Carolina wasted no time addressing the hole left by him, trading for C.J. Henderson on Monday.

After reports indicated that the Panthers had struck a deal with the Jaguars that would land them Henderson, a top-10 pick last year, for tight end Dan Arnold and a third-round pick, the team confirmed the trade to make it official.

It’s not often that a team cuts ties with a first-round pick who has not yet wholly busted this soon. But as we’ve seen, Jacksonville has undergone many changes since they took the cornerback out of Florida as they have a new coaching staff for the 2021 NFL season.

So what do we make of this trade? Let’s take a look at the final deal and then hand out a grade for each of the Panthers and Jaguars in this trade.

Panthers Grade for C.J. Henderson Trade

This made all the sense in the world for Carolina to do and owner David Tepper and the rest of the front office down to head coach Matt Rhule are unafraid to make moves they believe will help the team. Adding C.J. Henderson to the mix after losing Horn most definitely does that.

You could make the case that the performance of the rookie cornerback was one of the biggest reasons for the huge breakouts season from the Panthers defense. But without him, they were shallow at cornerback and that was threatening to go by the wayside. They effectively are trying to mitigate that.

Now, Henderson didn’t play particularly well as a rookie and lost his job due to a scheme change this season. Having said that, he was a top-10 pick for a reason and his man-coverage traits should fit perfectly with Carolina. Moreover, the team gave up very little in a tight end that was only standing in the way of talented rookie Tommy Tremble getting more work and a third-round pick that they essentially swapped for a fifth-rounder.

This is an outright win for the Panthers. Trade Grade: A

Jaguars Grade for C.J. Henderson Trade

It’s not been a great track record for the Jaguars with first-round picks over the last decade. Ari Meirov of PFF noted that the team has added 10 picks inside the top 10 since 2011 and only Josh Allen (2019) and Trevor Lawrence (2021) are on the roster now after the C.J. Henderson trade.

With that being said, there is some sense to the move. This current coaching regime didn’t draft Henderson and the man-coverage cornerback doesn’t fit what they’ve been doing thus far in 2021 and what they’re expected to do moving forward. Plus, they needed a veteran tight end such as Dan Arnold after some injuries at an already-thin position.

Still, giving up a top-10 pick one later for only a third-round pick and a stopgap tight end doesn’t look great for the Jaguars. Because there is some sense to it, you can’t give them a failing grade. That doesn’t mean it’s a favorable grade either, though. Trade Grade: C