Antonio Brown led the league in touchdown catches last season for Steelers. And they punted him to another team for just third- and fifth-round draft picks.
Now, after trading him to the Oakland Raiders in exchange for third- and fifth-round picks, Pittsburgh will be eating $21.1 million in dead money on their 2019 cap so Brown can catch TDs for another team.
At a glance, the return the Steelers got for Brown – especially given the cap hit – seems woeful. Upon closer inspection, it looks even worse.
The Raiders had plenty of higher picks – including a trio of first-rounders – to trade for Brown but, partially because the market for the star wideout was so poor, the Steelers were not able to pry any of them loose.
It’s nearly impossible to look at that as anything but a win for the Raiders and a loss for the Steelers.
“Evaluating this trade in a vacuum, it’s difficult to find an argument against the Raiders making the move,” according to ESPN. “The draft pick compensation is a drop in the bucket for a team with three first-round picks, as new general manager Mike Mayock did well to resist Pittsburgh’s attempts to negotiate for a first-round pick through the media. The 66th and 141st picks are equivalent to the 41st pick in a typical draft by the Chase Stuart draft chart, while the traditional Jimmy Johnson chart has them add up as something closer to the 61st selection. Either way, if you want to invoke a recent Raiders trade, this is the same organization that used third- and fifth-round picks to trade for Martavis Bryant and AJ McCarron under Jon Gruden’s watch.”
Granted, the Raiders are now on the hook for a good chunk of cash after giving Brown a post-trade contract (his total compensation for the next three years has increased from $38.925 million to $50.125 million), but it certainly seems worth it for a team with almost no playmakers.
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