Raiders, Redskins & Titans Have Shown Most Interest In Trade For Antonio Brown

Adam Schefter of ESPN, citing a league source, reports that the Raiders, Redskins and Titans have shown the most interest in a potential trade for Steelers WR Antonio Brown to date.

Schefter adds that other teams also have had conversations with the Steelers about Brown, but the belief as of now is that these three teams are the most likely landing spots.

According to Schefter, the Steelers’ asking price started out as a first-round pick and other compensation, but has since been reduced to a first-round pick.

Schefter says that it doesn’t mean the Steelers will a first-round pick for Brown, but it’s considered more realistic.

Reports from earlier in the day mentioned that the Raiders and Saints were both worth watching as possible landing sports for Brown, but Oakland seems to make the most sense.

The Raiders are clearly looking to upgrade talent on both sides of the ball and have three first-round picks to work with this year and could easily make Pittsburgh the best offer. 

Brown met with owner Art Rooney II a few weeks ago and both parties agreed that it was time to move on. He has been the subject of trade rumors since he was benched for Week 17’s game after an incident that occurred during practice. 

Pittsburgh would incur a $21 million cap hit by trading Brown, which is typically too prohibitive for a team to take on. However, reports have said Pittsburgh believes they can easily offset the cap hit.

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.

We’ll have more regarding Brown and the Steelers as the news is available.