We saw the rare player-for-player swap happen this week in the NFL, as the Carolina Panthers agreed to trade guard Trai Turner to the Los Angeles Chargers for tackle Russell Okung. Player-for-player swaps do not happen that often, and when they do, they are not as one-sided as this one. Let's take a look at this deal from each perspective.
Chargers get Turner
This was an easy deal for the Chargers. They freed up $13 million in cap space with the move and have a great chance to replace Okung in the draft. The 2020 NFL Draft has a lot of strong prospects at the tackle position. Okung missed 10 games last season and who knows how much long he will play given his heart condition.
Turner is a younger option that does not cost as much. He will be owed $20 million over the next two seasons. With this move, the Chargers got younger immediately and they did not have to give up any draft picks.
Chargers Grade: A
Panthers get Okung
The Chargers had to be running to the phone to get this deal done. On the other side, it is hard to imagine what the Panthers must have been thinking. Trading Turner makes sense for a rebuilding team with a new head coach. The only issue is trading him for an older player and not getting any draft picks back.
Carolina did not have a need at tackle. Taylor Morton was strong at right tackle last season and the Panthers drafted Greg Little in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft. If anything, they just created a need at guard with Greg Van Roten headed for free agency.
The Panthers' new 32-year-old tackle from the Chargers will not come cheap. Okung carries a cap hit of $13 million for 2020. This trade makes Carolina eat $9.6 million in dead cap. They are saving just $3.3 million. Let's take a look at the leaders in dead cap. The Panthers now have an eye-opening $37.5 million in dead cap. The next closest team is the Jacksonville Jaguars at $12.4.
To summarize, the Panthers traded away a player at a position they needed for an older, more expensive player at a position that was filled. And again, they did not get any draft capital back in the deal. This is a hard deal to justify if you are the Panthers. It would have made a lot more sense to just wait for the draft if they wanted a left tackle.
Panthers Grade: D-
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