And just like that, he was gone

By Jim Wexell
https://247sports.com/nfl/pittsburgh-steelers/Article/Pittsburgh-Steelers-trade-Antonio-Brown-to-Oakland-for-pair-of-middle-round-picks-129914882/
March 10, 2019

What's the price of peace and unity?

Perhaps a bashing in the national media and on the message boards of the team's fan sites?

Well, that's the price Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert was willing to pay last night when he shipped Antonio Brown to the Oakland Raiders for third and fifth-round draft picks.

Counting the replacement cost of player No. 51, the Steelers gained only about $500,000 in cap space by unloading the most productive receiver in team history. The Steelers won't have to pay Brown the $15 million he was due in salary this coming season, but they're hit with $14 million in prorated bonus monies from the ensuing two seasons left on his contract.

Analysts will continue to blather on about "dead money," but the fact is the Steelers lost a 31-year-old who put up spectacular stats but was also a spectacular pain in the butt not only in the locker and meeting rooms, but on the sideline and in the huddle.

Brown was targeted 19 times and gained 185 yards in his final game with the Steelers, but he still criticized the quarterback and then the franchise for publicly announcing that the quarterback will in fact remain in charge of that huddle.

I say good riddance. And it's easier for me to say it, since I had low expectations that this trade would turn into any type of draft-day boon for the Steelers. Way back on January 10, I relayed from our Answer Man his belief that they wouldn't get much more than a third-round pick.

That belief of course went up and down every time Mr. Big Chest opened his mouth. But in the end, the source was wrong, because the Steelers DID get a little more than a third-round pick.

Barely.

So, the Steelers have added the 84th and 142nd picks to an arsenal that grew by a compensatory sixth-round pick a couple of days ago with the trade of Marcus Gilbert.

Of course, Gilbert will be missed more in that locker room than Brown. On the field? Well, JuJu Smith-Schuster has worked his way into a Pro Bowler and will take over as the No. 1 receiver, while last year's second-round pick, James Washington, looks to continue his late-season ascension into the other starting spot.

The Steelers can add a deep threat in free agency, someone such as John Brown, and of course draft one in a very deep crop of receivers.

When tall deep threats such as Emanuel Hall and Miles Boykin - just quick examples - are expected to be available at the bottom of the third round and probably into the fourth, it's a deep crop.

t's actually a draft that's considered particularly rich in talent through the 100th selection. And the Steelers now own picks 20, 52, 66, 84, 123, 142, 176, 194, 209 and 221.

I'll go back to the Dan Marino-led Miami Dolphins once again for a historical comparison.

Entering Marino's 16th season, the Dolphins were coming off a 9-7 record in Jimmy Johnson's second season. You may recall that the Dolphins had pushed Don Shula out because he couldn't get back to the Super Bowl after rebuilding an entire team around Marino, who played well enough to prevent the team from plunging and rebuilding with top-10 talent.

The analogy of the teams that went to the Super Bowls with the two youngest quarterbacks in league history is too perfect not to continue to use. But the Dolphins entered that 1998 draft with picks 19-49-82-112-142, similar to this year's Steelers, as Ben Roethlisberger enters season 16, with picks 20-52-84-123-142.

The Dolphins, though, probably with as many holes as the Steelers have now, traded down 10 spots in the first round for four additional picks. They then traded a first-rounder in the next year's draft for a second-rounder in that '98 draft. They made one small trade up in the fourth round.

It didn't work. While the Dolphins made the playoffs and won a wild-card game that season, they were eliminated in the divisional round by Denver, 38-3. Marino made one more try for that elusive ring in 1999, failed, and then retired.

Obviously, the Steelers must do the opposite, and from what we learned about the trade attempt of Brown to Buffalo, they're leaning that way.

The Steelers attempted to trade Brown to the Bills, reportedly, for a move up of 11 spots in the first round, and a fourth-rounder. It wouldn't have been the sexiest trade for Steelers fans. In fact, many groused on social media. But it tipped us off that the Steelers are targeting a particular player, and the educated guess is that player is inside linebacker Devin White of LSU.

The Steelers have been desperate for a three-down inside linebacker since Ryan Shazier went down. They need someone to roam from sideline to sideline, cover backs, blow up screens, handle the run game, and even drop deep into coverage the way Derrick Brooks did inMike Tomlin's favored cover-2 scheme back when Tampa Bay won its Super Bowl.

And since White's ceiling reminds me of what Ravens great Ray Lewis became, let's throw Lewis into the comparative mix as well:

* Brooks 6-0, 229, 4.71 40, 28th pick of 1995 draft.
* Lewis 6-0.3, 235, 4.58 40, 26th pick of 1996 draft.
* White 6-0, 237, 4.42 40, pick to be determined.

But that pick probably won't be determined by the Steelers, who may have to settle for another middle linebacker who ran a 4.43 40 at the recent NFL Combine, Devin Bush (5-11, 234).

Now that the move up to pick No. 9 has been scuttled, dashing the hope of landing White, Bush becomes the favorite to be chosen by the Steelers at pick No. 20. Unless, of course, the Steelers move up, and the failed trade with Buffalo has certainly tipped off Colbert's intention.

Oh, wait, am I geeking out and meandering into talk about a draft that won't happen for seven weeks?

Sorry. The prospect of looking ahead has caused me to forget what I was saying about A.B., and that was, well, bye.