Grading the Antonio Brown trade for Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers

The Oakland Raiders will reportedly trade for Antonio Brown, sending draft picks in return to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Grading the deal for each team.

Remember the 45 minutes when Antonio Brown was heading to Buffalo and was going to be Josh Allen’s newest weapon? Those were fond times, but not ones meant to last as Brown reportedly nixed the trade from happening. That left the Pittsburgh Steelers exploring trade options for the disgruntled wide receiver. On Saturday night/early Sunday morning, they reportedly found the right ones in the Oakland Raiders.

According to a report from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Raiders and Steelers have agreed to a deal that will send Brown to the Bay Area. In exchange, Pittsburgh will receive a third- and fifth-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Also per Rapoport, the Raiders have re-worked Brown’s contract, as he wished, and he will now be the highest paid wideout in the league, making just shy of $20 million per year.

For the visual learners out in the world reading this, here’s what this Antonio Brown trade looks like given what we know.

The Raiders have no doubt shown that they are willing trade partners for any deal since the arrival of Jon Gruden in Oakland. In that time alone, the silver and black have shipped out Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper, receiving first-round picks for each, but have also made deals for Martavis Bryant and now for Brown.

In the case of the Steelers, this brings a conclusion to the Brown saga that has been long-lasting this offseason. At some point, it turned into a matter of “when” rather than “if” the wide receiver would be traded. We now have that answer as they ship him off to Oakland and make JuJu Smith-Schuster the new No. 1 pass-catcher in the offense.

With this kind of blockbuster trade, though, things are never just cut-and-dry. As such. let’s look at both sides of the deal for the Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers and hand out a grade to each team for this trade, starting with the former.