Arizona Cardinals received Harry Allis. The Cardinals…
Arizona Cardinals received Harry Allis. The Cardinals received Harry Allis, but he did not develop into an NFL regular-season contributor. Contemporary accounts show he was traded to the Cardinals in August 1952, yet his professional football path ended as he pursued medical training. Arizona therefore realized little on-field value from the acquired player.
Arizona Cardinals Received
- player Harry Allis
Detroit Lions Received
- pick 1953 "high" draft pick
Trade Analysis
The Exchange
On 1952-08-20, Arizona Cardinals and Detroit Lions completed a trade in which Arizona Cardinals received Harry Allis, while Detroit Lions received 1953 "high" draft pick. This review credits only value the acquiring team actually realized and traces later assets only when the downstream connection is supportable.
Arizona Cardinals Return
The Cardinals received Harry Allis, but he did not develop into an NFL regular-season contributor. Contemporary accounts show he was traded to the Cardinals in August 1952, yet his professional football path ended as he pursued medical training. Arizona therefore realized little on-field value from the acquired player.
Detroit Lions Return
Detroit received a future 1953 'high' draft choice. The exact selection has not been identified, so no downstream player can responsibly be assigned to the Lions. Even with that limitation, Detroit did receive a real draft asset, which is more traceable transaction value than the zero regular-season contribution Arizona received from Allis.
Value in Hindsight
The unresolved pick prevents a precise Detroit valuation, but Arizona's incoming player produced no NFL regular-season value. That makes Detroit's real draft asset the stronger documented return without inventing its exact identity. Unidentified picks, cash amounts, or future consideration remain explicit rather than being converted into a guessed player or value. That keeps the comparison tied to documented outcomes instead of the apparent value of the names at the time of the trade.
Where the surviving record is incomplete, the evaluation stays deliberately conservative: documented games, starts, production, and traceable asset outcomes receive credit, while unsupported assumptions about hidden consideration or later careers do not.
Final Verdict
Detroit Lions Win. Arizona Cardinals earns a D, while Detroit Lions earns a C+. The grades reflect the actual post-trade service, production, and traceable downstream value described above.