Antonio Brown officially requests trade from Steelers and Raiders have the draft capital to trade for him. Let the games begin

It’s official. Antonio Brown has requested a trade from the Steelers. He made that request known to the world today on twitter when he said goodbye to the Steelers. Replete with a hashtage #NewDemands and a short video set to music that says “Now I do what I want.”

Let’s face it, no team will be more talked about with regard to where Brown could land than the Raiders. They have a desperate need at receiver and have four draft picks in the top 35. And with Brown’s behavior lately, it may not even take a pick that high.

The 30-year-old receiver has been arguably the best in the league over the past six years in which he headed to six straight Pro Bowls and was named to four All Pro teams.

He currently represents a cap his of $22 million to the Steelers, but much of that would not go with him in a trade, instead being dead cap money for the Steelers. As ESPN’s Field Yates laid out.

So, he’d cost around $12 million per season for the final three years of his deal. That is, of course, unless he demands a new deal from the team that trades for him, which he could very well do #NewDemands.

Just because the Raiders will come up a lot doesn’t mean the thought of trading for Brown is a great idea as our own Tyler Green laid out when the first reports came out following the season that Brown was not happy in Pittsburgh. It just means that the need at the position plus the draft picks plus Jon Gruden’s whirlwind trade tendencies from last year make it seem like a real possibility.

Some fans will be dead set against the idea, while others will be giddy about the possibilities of Gruden’s offense with a dynamic talent like Antonio Brown in it.