Bidding for Antonio Brown ‘heating up’, trade deal expected by Friday

Vegas set the odds for the top teams to land Antonio Brown in trade with the Steelers and the Raiders are right at the top of that list. They are followed by the Titans and Cardinals, though with recent reports the teams below the Raiders in that figure to change.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, three new teams have entered the fray while two teams have bowed out.

As of last week, it was the Raiders, Broncos, and Cardinals who were reportedly most interested. With the Cardinals and Jets out and three additional teams jumping in, we could be looking at a large field of bidders.

That’s a lot of teams with at least some interest. How much interest is the question. It could easily be the Steelers making more out of the ‘interest’ from other teams than there actually is in order to get the highest draft pick possible. And Jon Gruden has four picks in the top 35 burning a hole in his pocket and just last year threw away a third round pick trading it to the Steelers for Martavis Bryant.

A recent poll we put out here had 3rd round or lower as Raider Nation’s top choice in a trade for Antonio Brown.

Whichever team offers the Steelers the best deal and pulls the trigger, the Steelers are telling them they want this deal done within the next couple days according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Early next week, free agency kicks off with the negotiating period beginning March 11. Clearly the Steelers would like to get ahead of that by trading Antonio Brown by the end of this week.