Let’s Talk Antonio Brown

Antonio Brown is a great player. He is arguably the best receiver in the league and led the NFL in TD receptions last year. And yet, the Steelers are having a hard time finding someone who is willing to trade for Brown.

Things fairly quiet on the AB front. The two teams I continue to hear most closely linked to him are the Raiders and Eagles. Several teams who have been in the mix believe a trade with Raiders would already be done if not for contractual hold-ups between the WR and the team

— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) March 9, 2019

The Raiders make complete sense. That team is in desperate need of talent and coach Jon Gruden is willing to make aggressive moves.

The Eagles? Honestly, that would confuse me. Still, rather than just dismiss the rumor, let’s talk about it.

On the one hand, Brown is a great player. Howie Roseman and the Eagles understand the need for talent. They used a lot of resources to get Carson Wentz. They spent big money to sign Alshon Jeffery. The Eagles don’t just sit around and hope. The aggressively go after top flight players.

Roseman isn’t afraid to take chances. Some front offices prefer to play it safe. The Eagles will roll the dice. They traded for Golden Tate at midseason. That didn’t work out as hoped, but Roseman still took the chance. The year before he dealt for Ronald Darby and Jay Ajayi. Those moves did pan out and helped the Eagles win the Super Bowl. You aren’t going to win big if you don’t embrace some level of risk. The Eagles understand and embrace that.

The Eagles know the offense wasn’t good enough in 2018. They know they need better skill players. Brown would be a huge addition. As good as Jeffery is, Brown is better. He would give Carson Wentz an elite weapon. There is real value in that.

Doug Pederson is a strong leader and can deal with some big personalities. He’s also an offensive coach and I’m sure would be fascinated by a weapon like Brown. The Eagles also have strong player leaders like Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, Malcolm Jenkins, Chris Long, Brandon Graham and of course Wentz. They could help create the right environment for Brown to succeed.

On the flip side, there are three major concerns. First, Brown isn’t an ideal locker room guy. He’s forcing his way out of Pittsburgh. He had disagreements with his coach and teammates. Brown went public with some of that, which is a no-no in the NFL. Teams treasure secrecy. Brown doesn’t. The Eagles had great chemistry over the past two years. Do you take a chance by adding someone like Brown to the mix?

Brown could be an issue on the field as well. He is a volume receiver, averaging more than 150 targets per season for the past six years. Jeffery has never had 150 targets in a season in his career. If you want Brown to be happy, you have to feed him the ball. The Eagles offense thrived in 2017 when Wentz spread the ball around. No player had more than 74 catches. If you had a player as great as Brown, you would feed him the ball, but I don’t know that the Eagles would feed him like the Steelers did. That could be an issue.

The final concern is cost. You have to trade for Brown. That won’t be cheap. The cost might be down to a second round pick, but that’s still significant for a team that needs to get younger. And there are reports that Brown wants to be the highest paid receiver in the league. Could the Eagles afford that, while also preparing to pay Wentz mega-bucks?

I’m sure the Eagles are curious about Brown. Any time a potential Hall of Fame player becomes available, you’d be dumb not to give a move serious consideration. Then again, why is a HOF player available? That tells you there are issues. NFL teams don’t get rid of elite talent for the heck of it.

I don’t see anything happening here, but never say never when it comes to Roseman and the Eagles.

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