Steelers GM Says Three Teams Have Reached Out About Antonio Brown Trade

Steelers GM Kevin Colbert says three NFL teams have reached out to them so far about a potential trade for WR Antonio Brown, per Tom Pelissero.

“Teams have reached out. I’d say we’ve had three teams that have touched base with us, and we’ll see where that grows,” Colbert said. “I think it will continue to grow.”

Colbert wouldn’t say what a team would need to offer for Brown, but emphasized: “If it doesn’t benefit us, we won’t do it.” 

On Wednesday, Colbert announced that they will attempt to trade Brown, but won’t give him away. Colbert stressed that if a deal does not benefit the Steelers, they won’t trade Brown and it’s still possible he could return if there isn’t a deal to be made. 

“By no means will we make a trade that’s not beneficial to the Steelers organization,” Colbert said, per Bob Labriola. “We’re not going to give a discount on the trade market, and we’re not going to release him. We’ve had no active trade talks with any team about AB.

“We’re all disappointed we’re at this point. AB’s disappointed. We’re disappointed. We did agree to look into a trade and see it as the best course of action.”

Brown met with owner Art Rooney II and both parties agreed that it was time to move on. 

Brown 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.