The Oakland Raiders have acquired Antonio Brown from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Raiders will send a 3rd and 5th round pick to the Steelers in exchange for the nine-year wide receiver, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Brown, 31, will receive a reworked contract that will make him the highest paid receiver in the NFL.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Brown will now receive $50.125 million over the next three years and can earn up to $54.125 million with incentives.
The trade, which can not be finalized until the league year starts next week, brings closure to what has been a protracted ordeal for the Steelers and Brown.
Brown has gone back and forth in the media for several months chronicling his reasons for wanting out of Pittsburgh.
He requested a trade in February after posting his goodbyes to Steelers fans on Instagram saying it was,
‘Time to move on and move forward.’
After meeting with owner Art Rooney II to ‘clear the air’ back in February, Brown finds himself a new home in Oakland with owner Mark Davis.
The Raiders, who will play their final season in Oakland, will be moving to Las Vegas in 2020. Adding Brown provides a big name that will help move tickets when the team arrives in Nevada, creating additional buzz for the team.
Jon Gruden will be going into his second season with the team as head coach, while new general manager Mike Mayock will be going into his first.
Mayock’s first major move as GM sees him bring in a WR who has an NFL record six-consecutive 100 catch seasons.
During that span, Brown has amassed over 9,100 yards and in 2018 had a career high 15 touchdowns.
The All-Pro will bring explosiveness and big play ability to a Raiders offense that after, trading away Amari Cooper to the Cowboys, became stagnant.
Last year the Raiders finished 18th in the NFL in receiving yards, and their 19 touchdowns ranked 24th in the league.
Brown’s addition instantly upgrades an offense that lacked big play ability and gives QB Derek Carr a lethal downfield weapon.
In 5 career games against the Raiders, Brown has averaged nearly 102 yards per game receiving with 1 touchdown.
A seven-time pro-bowler, Brown will now have the opportunity to build a new relationship with Carr. Carr, 27, was ecstatic about the trade as seen on Twitter.
Brother let's get to work! https://t.co/L2JwgKypoP
— Derek Carr (@derekcarrqb) March 10, 2019
Brown’s previous relationship with Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger has been well-documented.
While the on-field working relationship was productive, Brown and Roethlisberger were never seemingly on the same page off the field.
This led Brown to say on Twitter that Roethlisberger had a, ‘owner mentality.’ Brown doubled down on those comments recently on HBO’s The Shop, hosted by LeBron James, where Brown said Roethlisberger acted like the, ‘owner.’
For the Steelers, JuJu Smith-Schuster becomes the number one target coming off a career high 111 catches and going to the pro-bowl for the first time.
Smith-Schuster’s production primarily was a by-product of Brown being opposite him. With Brown gone, it remains to be seen how Smith-Schuster will handle his role as the primary receiver.
For now, the Raiders have their new number one receiver in a four-time All-Pro with a career 834 catches and over 11,000 yards receiving. Numbers that would put Brown in Canton if he were to retire today.
Brown was thought to be traded to the Buffalo Bills late Friday evening, but Bills GM Brandon Beane nixed the rumor saying that the deal that attempted to bring in Brown didn’t, ‘make sense.’
Late Saturday though the Raiders were able to make a deal that made sense to the Steelers and now Antonio Brown has a new home donning the silver and black.
