Over the next few weeks Steelers Sanctuary will attempt to nail down what a deal for Antonio Brown might look like. At this point no one knows for sure how the league values Brown given the recent social media circus he has created. Nevertheless, we can assume Brown will still fetch a late first or early second round pick. If the Steelers can create a bit of a bidding war, the haul could end up being even better.
The Los Angeles Rams are among the most aggressive teams in the entire league. Recent acquisitions like Ndamukong Suh, Brandin Cooks, and Marcus Peters show the Rams have a go for broke mentality. So why wouldn’t Los Angeles be interested in a player like Antonio Brown? The Rams have shown not to be afraid of adding players with checkered pasts (see Suh and Peters), and we know how Los Angeles loves its stars. With all this in mind, let’s propose a deal that sends Brown to the Rams for Marcus Peters and the 31st pick in the first round.
THE STEELERS SIDE:
The wild card in this trade is of course Marcus Peters. Peters has all the athletic ability to be a shut down corner, but his concentration and discipline are severely lacking. Sounds like the Steelers type of player right? The upside of Peters ever realizing his potential is tremendous however. Pittsburgh would have one year to figure out what they have in him before having to make a decision on a long term contract. Peters has one year left on his deal at $9 million. The Rams first round pick is next to last, but is a nice consolation for the risk of taking on Peters.
THE RAMS SIDE:
The Rams are coming off an extremely disappointing Super Bowl where their offense was exposed. The wide receivers struggled to get open on their own when they couldn’t be schemed open. Truth be told this group isn’t very good outside of Brandin Cooks. Antonio Brown would be a major upgrade for the Rams at that position. Los Angeles gave up a first round pick for Cooks two years ago, so we know they are not married to their draft picks. There would be no dead money for trading Marcus Peters, so that could offset some of the cost of adding Brown. The Rams currently have roughly $23 million in cap space to begin with. This is exactly the type of deal Sean McVay and company may be seeking this off-season.