Steelers Expected To Consider Trade Offers For WR Antonio Brown

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Steelers are expected to consider trade offers for WR Antonio Brown leading up to free agency in March.

Rapoport says that Pittsburgh has not closed the door on the possibility of trading Brown, as long as they can secure adequate compensation for him.

Brown is owed a $2.5 million roster bonus on the third day of the league year and Rapoport says that this will work as a deadline of sorts for the Steelers to trade him.

Rival GMs have told Rapoport that the Steelers will not give Brown away and will be asking a lot for him a potential trade. In fact, two GMs who spoke with Rapoport believe the price would be a first-round pick, while another pegged it as multiple high picks.

One decision maker predicted during his conversation with Rapoport that the Steelers would ultimately figure things out with Brown.

“Watch this get calm, and they’ll figure it out. It’s what they do,” Rapoport’s source said.

According to Rapoport, Brown has yet to meet with key members of the organization regarding his actions in recent weeks that led to him not playing in the team’s Week 17 game.

Chris Mortensen adds that the Steelers have no issues with taking on a $21 million dead cap hit by trading Brown, given that they will receive a $14.5 million cap credit back in 2019 for RB Le’Veon Bell that hasn’t been calculated yet.

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 as the news is available.