Fans on social media are trying to make sense of the first trade of the UFL season, announced on the UFL Communications Department X feed: The Michigan Panthers traded WR Marcus Simms to the Houston Roughnecks for OT Cam Carter. A look at it from each team's perspective:
Houston
The Roughnecks need all the offensive playmakers they can get, and Simms is certainly that. He is tied for the team lead in receptions for Michigan through two weeks. Houston's receivers have potential but have had too many drops this year. What Simms won't be able to do is throw the ball to himself; just as Houston has had problems with their receivers, their quarterbacks haven't always been of great help, either. If nothing else, Simms will be a player defenses will have to respect, which could open things up elsewhere on offense.
Carter is in his third year as a spring league starter at offensive tackle, first for the New Jersey Generals in 2023, then with Houston last year. He was listed as the starting right tackle on the Roughnecks' week two depth chart, though Houston plays everybody along the line. It's not as if Houston's offensive line has improved so drastically that they can afford to trade away starters, so perhaps they like one of their depth players here. Samuel Jackson is listed as the immediate backup at right tackle, and he committed two penalties on Sunday. A name to watch out for is T.J. Bradley, who has been inactive the last two weeks due to injury. He could end up being inserted into the starting lineup. Remember that veteran NFL coach Tom Cable is now running the offensive line, so he's earned the benefit of the doubt in the moves he makes here.
Michigan
This trade has the smell of something going on behind the scenes that we're not privy to, but that's only speculation. We've seen some strange trades in spring football and to many, this one is right up there. Both teams traded a starter; Simms, though, played two-thirds of the snaps in week one for the Panthers and was an All-UFL receiver in 2024. One could argue Michigan has enough depth at receiver to offset Simms's loss - Jaylon Moore, who has been with three NFL teams, now likely takes the place of Simms - but they still traded one of the team's best offensive players and most frequent targets for...what, exactly?
The eye test says that through two games, Michigan's offensive line has run blocked extremely well, but has fallen short in pass blocking. In 2023 and 2024, Carter's pass blocking was graded as slightly above-average by Pro Football Focus. Ryan Nelson and Chim Okorafor are Michigan's starting offensive tackles, though Okorafor in particular struggled against Birmingham. Brian Dooley, a rookie College Draft pick, is the immediate backup at tackle so if nothing else, Carter adds some experienced depth on the outside with the potential to challenge for a starting role or at least for playing time. It makes you wonder if that loss to the Stallions on Friday, the sixth loss in a row for Michigan to Birmingham, caused the team to press the panic button a bit.
Final Analysis
Houston sure seems like the clear winner of this trade, though if you can squint you can kind of see what Michigan might have been thinking. We'll know more when C.J. Johnson and Mike Nolan meet with the media this week.