The Pittsburgh Steelers have agreed to trade WR Antonio Brown to the Raiders, according to Adam Schefter.
According to Ian Rapoport, the Steelers will receive a third and a fifth-round pick in 2019 from the Raiders.
Brown will also receive a new contract worth $50.125 million and $30.125 million guaranteed. That makes him the highest paid wide receiver in the league.
No new years will be added to the contract, which could escalate an additional $4 million with incentives.
The trade will become official when the new league year begins on Wednesday.
Brown announced the news via his Twitter account:
☠️☠️☠️ #RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/ul6lIVk9dE
— Antonio Brown (@AB84) March 10, 2019
Brown, 30, is a former sixth-round pick of the Steelers back in 2010. He’s currently in the third year of his five-year, $72.71 million contract that included a $19 million signing bonus and stands to make base salaries of $12.625 million and $11.3 million over the next two years of the agreement.
Pittsburgh will incur a $21 million cap hit by trading Brown, who is owed a $2.5 million roster bonus on the third day of the league year.
In 2018, Brown appeared in 15 games for the Steelers and caught 104 passes for 1,297 yards and 15 touchdowns. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 26 receiver out of 117 qualifying players.
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There is a lot to discuss about this trade. First off! The Steelers got royally FLEECED in this deal. All the Steelers get in return is the Raiders’ 2019 3rd and 5th rounders plus accrue $21M in 2019 dead cap money. While the Raiders get the 2nd BEST receiver in the NFL.
YEAH! I said, “Second Best” in the NFL. Here’s my TOP 5.
1.) Deandre Hopkins
2.) Antonio Brown
3.) Michael Thomas
4.) Julio Jones
5a.) Odell Beckham Jr.
5b.) Brandon Cooks
As for Antonio Brown and his contract. Brown has some really smart negotiators on his team. This new Raiders deal is basically just an upgrade of Brown’s current 5yr./$72.71M with $19M guaranteed, the Raiders upgrading the last 3 years left from ’19 to ’21. Now! Brown’s deal becomes 5yrs./$85M with $49M in guarantees.
With Antonio Brown now settled in Raider Nation. The Raiders can draft a DK Metcalf or NKeal Harry with one of their two late 2019 1st rounders (24/27) to pair with Brown.
This Antonio Brown trade basically means the GMEN will most likely be stuck with Odell Beckham Jr. All the other 31 NFL teams will look at that 3rd and 5th rounder as the starting point in any trade for OBJ. Plus! The acquiring team will be taking on a a lot of money and drama in return.
Although the Patriots may still be the team to go in on Beckham. Being that the Patriots’ 1st round picks seem to be closer to the 2nd round every year #29-32 on average.
Pro Football Focus has Antonio Brown ranked 26th out of 117 qualifying players. What planet are PFF from? Look at Antonio Brown’s numbers over the last 5 or 6 years. NO wide receiver in the NFL even comes close.
I’m excluding Deandre Hopkins from comparison, because Hopkins never had a top notch QB until a couple of years ago in Deshaun Watson. And Hopkins still puts up Pro Bowl and All Pro numbers every year.