Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Steelers are exploring trade options involving WR Antonio Brown, but he hasn’t closed the door on returning to Pittsburgh.
According to Rapoport, Brown has maintained a steady dialogue with some in the organization he’s close with to express interest in possibly returning.
Even so, Rapoport expects Brown to draw “significant interest” on the trade market this offseason.
Rapoport adds that while a fresh start is now the preferred outcome, the Steelers have not yet given Brown’s agent permission to facilitate a trade.
The Steelers 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.
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