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Antonio Brown Has Been Traded to the Raiders

Iggloo

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It's true that some aging receivers have done well, especially great ones like Steve Smith and Jerry Rice. But generally speaking, receivers like all players tend to slow down and lose a step after 30, or take longer to heal from injury. So outside of QB, signing any player to a huge contract after that age carries risks.

Maybe it all works out for Oakland. But given that they are rebuilding and unlikely to compete in the next two years, I fail to understand how this makes sense.
 

DJ

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It's true that some aging receivers have done well, especially great ones like Steve Smith and Jerry Rice. But generally speaking, receivers like all players tend to slow down and lose a step after 30

That's RB's.
 

Battlelyon

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They couldn't have. There's something called the salary cap.

The only way they were able to trade for AB was because they unloaded those 2 who were due huge contracts.

Just because the Raiders don't know how to work the cap, doesn't mean others don't.
 

Battlelyon

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Aging? He's still just 30 (receivers can play well until 33-34) and not declining.....he played great last season. Actually led the League in TD's...

He will be 31 when the season starts
 

eaglesnut

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Yikes... A 3rd & a 5th?

Glad that AB is gone, but that is a very weak return. Especially when you see how loaded the Raiders' draft capital is. I'm beginning to believe that the Steelers FO is losing their edge. They look incredibly weak right now.
The Steelers are on a direct path to Cleveland Browns' land.
Be worried.
 

R.J. MacReady

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It's true that some aging receivers have done well, especially great ones like Steve Smith and Jerry Rice. But generally speaking, receivers like all players tend to slow down and lose a step after 30, or take longer to heal from injury. So outside of QB, signing any player to a huge contract after that age carries risks.

Maybe it all works out for Oakland. But given that they are rebuilding and unlikely to compete in the next two years, I fail to understand how this makes sense.

The drop offs tend to be a lot less than for receivers than running backs.

The receivers don't take anywhere near the same pounding in games and receivers can get away with working
smarter not harder later on in their careers. Reading defenses/smart route running ans such.

Dez Bryant is a good example of what happens when you don't work on your craft as a receiver as you get older.
Was never a great route runner and it caught up to him the last several years.



i




.
 

ATL96Steeler

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Opposed to settling for less than premium draft picks in addition to eating 21 million, I'd take my chances, if for no other reason than to stick it to the piece of shit and show the team who's boss.

Obviously, the Steelers felt their team culture was not strong enough to handle Brown, which is reflective of a broader problem.

It's a mess.

You didn't answer any of the questions, but I trust that you think sticking it to Brown and showing him whose the boss would make the team better in 2019.

When players can sit out a tag year, and social media platform gives ass holes like Brown a platform...it's a new era.

Trust me, I'd love to see Brown get the raw end of this deal somehow, but keeping him on the team was not going to make the Steelers better.

Your last sentence hit the nail squarely on the head...Tomlin fostered it, Colbert and Art II sat back and allowed it...when they were winning, no issues...they hit a rocky path and all hell broke loose...PIT needs to deal with the root cause of why that locker room got in such a state.
 

Iggloo

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Well yes, RBs are a dramatic dropoff, but receivers drop off too. That chart still shows a 25% dropoff in production from receivers over 30. Factor in the sample bias--only the best receivers likely even play at that age--and you see it's real.
 

Taddy Mason

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AB didn't have any guaranteed money from Pitt? No wonder he wanted out. Great move for him.
 

ATL96Steeler

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Without a doubt — drama. But is Pitt better with no AB and no drama?

With a huge cap hit and Brown under contract. No WR at age 30 is sitting out a year. If he were 25, like Bell, then I agree with dealing him.

Brown loves the camera too much and money. He wouldn’t have pulled a Bell and sat out. The trade saved Pitt, what, $1 million in cap space?

It's been said 1000 times...you don't need a star WR to win the SB. To answer your question directly, yes...Brown had 100+ catches, 1200+ yds, 15 TDs yet PIT did not make the playoffs because the DEF was so shitty. I'll take a lessor player at the WR position and a better DEF and I think they do make the playoffs.
 

ATL96Steeler

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Gains them respect. They could have still pursued trading the asshole all summer. That $2.5m roster bonus is small pennies in comparison to the gigantic QB-esque dead hit they were already on the hook for regardless of whether the deal got done before Wednesday.

AB makes it out of this like the egotistical bandit that he absolutely is, while the Steelers brass are left looking incredibly inept & weak.

The only fault I can see here is they could've bit the bullet on the 2.5 and waited until the draft and probably got a deal done, but imo the stakes were not going to higher.
 

Iggloo

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So as others have noted, if you look at this from the perspective of the Raiders' management of the salary cap, it is tragically bad. You could have spent money locking down Mack and you had a pretty good 24 year old WR. Instead you trade them away and trade for a receiver who you pay huge money to, even though he will be 31 before he plays a single game for you. Granted, they got three first rounders, so the fate of these deals ultimately depends on how they capitalize on those picks, but their cap is blown up by an aging player and they have no young nucleus to speak of.
 

FaCe-LeE-uS

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The only fault I can see here is they could've bit the bullet on the 2.5 and waited until the draft and probably got a deal done, but imo the stakes were not going to higher.
It only takes 1 team to hit the panic button after the draft, or during the draft for that matter. They could & should have gotten a much better return. Hopefully washing their hands clean of this nonsense now vs later will benefit the locker room, but I will have a hard time being optimistic about this.
 

ATL96Steeler

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There is no way to know what the better alternatives are, but you can't sit there and tell me that they couldn't have gotten a better deal than this. I guarantee you that 90% of the league is in awe at how little it took to get AB.

Art II & Colbert got played like a fiddle, and they were just as harmful to the trade compensation as AB was. But AB got exactly what he wanted, out of PIT and a huge pay-day, while the Steelers FO has been bending over and grabbing their ankles since December.

I'm not happy with this deal, and wholeheartedly agree they got shafted, but if we're not talking about a better alternative, I think we're just griping because we don't like it.

The only thing I can see here is they allowed the 2.5 to factor into the decision. Who knows what could happen between now and the draft that could've changed a teams thinking...an injury, suspension, etc. Absent of that, I'm struggling with better alternatives.

I disagree on the 90% of the league...I think once BUF was rebuked by Brown...the incoming phone calls all but died and PIT was the one calling.
 

TrustMeIamRight

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It's been said 1000 times...you don't need a star WR to win the SB. To answer your question directly, yes...Brown had 100+ catches, 1200+ yds, 15 TDs yet PIT did not make the playoffs because the DEF was so shitty. I'll take a lessor player at the WR position and a better DEF and I think they do make the playoffs.

Here is your problem — he has a 21 million dollar cap hit still, so trading him now provided Pitt with no relief to go improve the defense.

And a 3rd and 5th round pick isn’t going to change anything in that regard, right now.

I always looked at Pitt as a well oiled machine with a great front office. But the way Bell and Brown have been handled, it makes them look terrible.

Basically they had one of the best RB’s and one of the best WR’s and in losing both, a 3rd round pick is all they got. That’s terrible.
 

FaCe-LeE-uS

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I'm not happy with this deal, and wholeheartedly agree they got shafted, but if we're not talking about a better alternative, I think we're just griping because we don't like it.

The only thing I can see here is they allowed the 2.5 to factor into the decision. Who knows what could happen between now and the draft that could've changed a teams thinking...an injury, suspension, etc. Absent of that, I'm struggling with better alternatives.

I disagree on the 90% of the league...I think once BUF was rebuked by Brown...the incoming phone calls all but died and PIT was the one calling.
You really don't think that 90% of the league would have given up 3rd & 5th Rd picks for AB? I know that's not what you're implying, but thats essentially what I was trying to say. No doubt the incoming phone calls died. AB's antics, his rebuke, combined with Colbert's hard-balling were combining to destroy his value. In hindsight I'm betting that those 90% teams are kicking themselves for not keeping their hats in the ring.
 
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