Green Bay Packers: 3 Reasons not to trade for Antonio Brown

1. Way too much money

$17 million per season is what Brown is making on average over the course of the contract extension he signed in 2017. Brown has a cap hit of $18.34 million next season and $19.54 million the following year, per Spotrac. He would be the team’s second most expensive player in each season. They just can’t afford to have that much of their cap tied up in two wide receivers when they can use that money to improve at so many other positions.

While they would have an early out after the 2019-20 season if the fit doesn’t work, they would still have $7 million of dead money that would be hard to swallow. The Packers have always done a good job of managing their cap space, and that’s what has helped them avoid the financial turmoil that has befallen other NFL teams.

Trading for Brown would help, but it would sacrifice that flexibility they strive to hold onto.

Green Bay has always avoided headache players, and they have shown the propensity to trade away a player they felt would undermine the structure they had in place. Brown is that type of guy. Pittsburgh managed him well for a long time.

But, between the hefty contract they handed him and building their offense around him, they remain largely at his mercy. If Green Bay is wise, they’ll let this trade pass and use their resources in different and better ways.