The Oakland Raiders are in desperate need of a play-making receiver. After trading away Amari Cooper, the team is left with just Jordy Nelson, Marcell Ateman, Seth Roberts and Keon Hatcher heading into the 2019 season.
One option that has been mentioned is trading for current Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Antonio Brown. Brown has been the early talk of the NFL offseason as reports circulated that he gave up on his team and requested a trade following Week 17. A new report from ESPN’s Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter even says a trade by March is likely.
Adding Brown would obviously be a massive boost to the Raiders or any team who acquires him. He is a seven-time Pro Bowler, four-time All Pro nominee and arguably the best receiver in all of football.
That being said, adding Brown won’t come cheap.
If the Steelers were to trade Brown, they would still have to pay him $22.5 million for the 2019 season. Even though he may be a headache, the team was just one game out of the playoffs in 2018. Pittsburgh must really have to like the trade for them to deal their best offensive weapon.
From the Raiders perspective, that’ll likely cost one of their later first round picks. While Brown is a proven commodity and a draft pick is more of a crap shoot, the Raiders’ offense needs much more than just Antonio Brown. Dealing a first rounder, even for a player of Brown’s quality, is a risky, and expensive move for a team who is rebuilding.
That being said, the Raiders still need receivers. The 2019 free agent market is weak with top options being Larry Fitzgerald, Devin Funchess and Adam Humphries. There is a chance that Oakland still turns to the trade market, but for much less expensive players than Brown.
While trading any draft pick would hurt the Raiders, moving a late rounder for a potential WR1 is a possibility that head coach Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock must explore. While this seems like more prediction than reporting, Raiders Beat has already said they expect Gruden to land a “big name” wideout.
Don’t know if it will be Brown, but Gruden is going to go get a big name wideout. Book it. https://t.co/0YxSEgxnUk
— Raiders Beat (@RaidersBeat) January 5, 2019
None of these receivers are as big of a name as Antonio Brown. However, they will cost significantly less, and could help revamp the Oakland Raiders’ offense.
