Ian Rapoport reports that the Broncos are expected to be “one of many” teams interested in acquiring Steelers WR Antonio Brown, while “rival GMs” predict Pittsburgh will “at least” get a second-round pick in exchange for Brown.
Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported earlier today that the Steelers front office is beginning initial preparation into a potential blockbuster trade involving Brown.
Though Rapoport mentions the Steelers acquiring a second rounder for Brown, La Canfora says that the Steelers are looking for “at least” a first first-round pick in return for Brown and believe his contract will be very easy to trade.
Beyond that, Pittsburgh believes they can easily offset the $21 million cap hit they would take by trading Brown.
Brown is expected to have a robust market that could include the Seahawks, Colts, Saints, 49ers, Packers, and Eagles.
Team sources have told La Canfora that the Ravens, Browns and Patriots are expected to have significant interest in Brown, but there’s “virtually no chance” they would trade him to a rival.
Brown is owed a $2.5 million roster bonus on the third day of the league year, which could work as a deadline of sorts for the Steelers to trade him.
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.
Trading Brown would be really tough for the Steelers, considering that they would take a $21.12 million cap hit by moving him before June 1. After that, the dead money hit drops to $7.04 million with the remainder being carried on their 2020 salary cap.
In 2018, Brown appeared in 15 games for the Steelers and caught 104 passes for 1,297 yards and 15 touchdowns.
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