Even if Chiefs were interested, Steelers are unlikely to trade Antonio Brown
Social media was buzzing Tuesday thanks to Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown.
Brown tweeted: “Thank you SteelerNation for a big 9 years...time to move on and forward.......... #NewDemands”. The tweet included a highlight reel of his plays and the song “Do What I Want” by Lil Uzi Vert.
Not long after, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Brown requested a trade and that a source believes Brown “is tired of playing the scapegoat for the Steelers’ problems and wants to show he can thrive in another offense.”
The developments generated a lot of chatter, and the betting site BookMaker quickly put odds on what team Brown will play for this fall. The 49ers are the favorite (plus-200), followed by the Jets (plus-500), Raiders (plus-650), Dolphins (plus-1000), Cowboys (plus-1300) and Colts (plus-1500). The Steelers were plus-350 and the field was set at plus-400.
Some Chiefs fans on Twitter wondered if Kansas City would make a move to trade for Brown. However, his contract makes it unlikely that Brown would be traded.
ESPN’s Field Yates tweeted the particulars of Brown’s contract:
- He’s due a $2.5 million roster bonus on March 17.
- If traded before March 17, the Steelers would have a dead cap hit of $21.12 million. It would be $23.62 million if he’s traded after March 17.
- Brown is due $12.625 million in 2019, $11.3 million in 2020 and $12.5 million in 2021
Financially, it doesn’t make much sense for the Steelers to trade Brown, even if the Chiefs or another team were interested. It’s also worth noting that the National Football Players’ Association said the Chiefs have $715,000 of unused cap space carrying over to next season.
This story was originally published February 12, 2019 at 1:32 PM.
