Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said last week that three NFL teams had contacted him about wide receiver Antonio Brown. Conversations will likely heat up this week in Indianapolis when all 32 teams gather for the NFL Scouting Combine. That is generally where potential trade scenarios are explored.
While trades can be discussed and even agreed upon, nothing can become official until the start of the new league year on March 13.
The San Francisco 49ers have been linked to Brown because of the need at wide receiver and the team's surplus of salary cap space. The receiver has even expressed an interest in playing for Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers.
Peter King of NBC Sports recently listed his five teams most likely to land Brown. San Francisco was not among the five.
Which teams did King list? They were the Carolina Panthers, Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Jets, and Oakland Raiders. The latter two play in the same conference as the Steelers so they may be unlikely trade partners. The Steelers play the Jets in 2019, making a Brown-to-Jets trade even more unlikely. The Raiders, however, do not play Pittsburgh and have accumulated an impressive haul of draft capital.
It is also noteworthy that the 49ers play the Steelers in 2019 but will not do so again until 2023. Still, it is interesting to see the 49ers absent from a list like this one. San Francisco was listed as the favorite to land the disgruntled receiver after he requested a trade.
"I don't see San Francisco (trading for Brown), unless Jerry Rice gets hired as GM," wrote King.
King also believes that Brown has significantly hurt his trade value over the past couple of months with his social media antics. The Steelers have said that they will not deal Brown unless it benefits the organization.
"We're open to [a trade], but again, if it doesn't benefit us, we won't do it," Colbert said on NFL Network.