Six players the Detroit Lions could trade for this offseason
Antonio Brown, WR – Pittsburgh Steelers
It has been well-known over the last few weeks that Antonio Brown and his employer, the Steelers, have been at odds for various reasons. Brown has vocally voiced his contempt with the franchise right now and has let it be known he would not be opposed to a trade.
On Thursday, Steelers’ President Art Rooney II said that the Steelers would not release Brown but that all other options are on the table and that it is hard to envision Brown staying with the team for long.
Soon after Rooney went on the record saying this it would seem that Brown responded by posting a tweet showing him shaking hands with Rooney with the caption “Good Business #Boomin”. It seems that Brown will be traded away from the Steelers, much to his delight.
Trading for Brown would give the Lions a very good trio of receivers that would include Marvin Jones Jr, Kenny Golladay, and Antonio Brown. Pro Football Focus (PFF) gave Brown a 2018 grade of 79.3 which was good for the 25th best receiver. The top Lions’ receiver got grades of 71.8 (Jones Jr) and 81.1 (Golladay).
His contract would also be very doable for the Leos. Brown would be a Lion for three years at an average of just $12.975 million per year. That’s a bargain for a top-five wide receiver in the NFL.
There’s really no way to know what the Steelers would want for Brown or what Quinn would be willing to give up. I doubt Quinn would give away the number eight overall pick in the draft straight up for Brown, but Twitter user @Sandman7773 provided an interesting scenario for a trade. The Lions would give the eighth overall pick for Brown and the 20th overall pick, plus a swap of second round picks.
If I’m the Lions I would willingly agree to the above scenario, and would even throw in one of the extra sixth-round picks too if that’s what it took to get the deal done. If the above was a no-go the Steelers and Lions might consider Detroit’s second-round pick straight up for Antonio Brown.