Steelers Expected To Have Deal In Place To Trade Antonio Brown By Friday

Adam Schefter reports that teams that have spoken to the Steelers about possibly trading for WR Antonio Brown have been told that a deal is expected to be in place by Friday.

Ian Rapoport also reports that the trade market for Brown is “heating up” and Pittsburgh has begun telling teams that this is moving quickly and need to get their best offers as soon as possible.

Rapoport mentions that three new teams have jumped into the mix while the Jets and Cardinals are now out of the running.

Reports from yesterday mentioned that the Raiders have shown to the most interest in Brown up to this point. The Redskins, Titans and Broncos have also been mentioned as possible landing spots for Brown. 

Schefter previously mentioned that the Steelers’ asking price started out as a first-round pick and other compensation, but has since been reduced to a first-round pick. However, Schefter says that it doesn’t mean the Steelers will a first-round pick for Brown, but it’s considered more realistic.

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.