Antonio Brown trade may be happening today, announcing team soon: UPDATE: TRADED to Raiders

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

39 minutes ago, Chicken Boo said:

Makes me wonder what Beane was thinking?

 

of course it does.

 

 

[The Senator]

24 minutes ago, TAinLA said:

 

Love it, as I said in another thread, Raiders will be dysfunctional and fall apart and Mr. Big Pest will age out into obscurity.  Hoping the Bills get to put at least one beat down on them in the next couple of years!!!

 

We get that chance next season - IF he doesn’t quit the Raiders before then!

 

We play them in Las Vegas in 2020 ?

.

[BADOLBILZ]

 

I figured for sure the contract issue involved Brown demanding a couple of extra years at $17M+..........which I would have been fine with them passing on.

 

But three years at $17M per(a sub-going rate AAV) would have been a perfect match with the 3 remaining "very cheap" years of Allen's rookie contract.

 

This looks Billsy.

 

[freddyjj]

48 minutes ago, MAJBobby said:

 

No just calls for a WR that quits in Training Camp to be an advocate. 

 

Or calls for a CB that walks out at halftime and retires. 

 

The Delusion that we are better off that one of the Best WRs in the NFL is not in Buffalo. 

With AB Steelers won no Super Bowls and appeared in only one., 2010 rookie season.  This with a future HOFer at QB and one of best runners in NFL.  

 

So unclear to me how A B could save Bills or Raiders 

[4merper4mer]

1 hour ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

Cooper is a fraction of the caliber WR Brown is.  

 

In the end, they got AB and a 1st round pick for Cooper.  

Let me guess.

 

Brown goes to:

 

Bills, Jets, Dolphins: Old, expensive, diva, cost too much in draft capital.

 

Any non-AFC East team: This proves the Bils are stupid and undesirable for a multitude of reasons.

 

Pats: Greatest transaction in football history and proves Kraft only got a manicure.

 

Edited March 10, 2019 by 4merper4mer

[Chicken Boo]

26 minutes ago, RaoulDuke79 said:

He was thinking that Brown said he wouldn't report if traded to Buffalo.

 

I thought it was all about the contract numbers.

[RaoulDuke79]

7 minutes ago, Chicken Boo said:

 

I thought it was all about the contract numbers.

Not to my knowledge. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/how-antonio-brown-killed-bills-trade-and-the-steelers-options-with-diva-wr-moving-forward/amp/

Edited March 10, 2019 by RaoulDuke79

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, 1ZAYDAY1 said:

I would have been pissed if the Bills gave a 31 yr old WR a $54M contract with $30M guaranteed. Not to mention giving up a 3rd and 5th round pick. All that for a guy who would have just complained. 

 

I think the Bills may have offered a bit better trade compensation, but been 100% unwilling to offer Brown that much in the way of guarantees.

I agree with you that offering a diva WR who has gone AWOL on his team big guaranteed bucks is not the Path of Wisdom towards building a team

[PromoTheRobot]

4 hours ago, nucci said:

Teams don't have to honor the contracts players sign. They can be released with years left on their on their contracts....it works both ways

 

Actually it doesn't. It's very one sided in the owners favor. A good agent world make that clear to a player.

[jletha]

22 minutes ago, freddyjj said:

With AB Steelers won no Super Bowls and appeared in only one., 2010 rookie season.  This with a future HOFer at QB and one of best runners in NFL.  

 

So unclear to me how A B could save Bills or Raiders 

The top paid WRs in the league were ODB, Mike Evans, Brown. None of them even made the playoffs. 

 

Calvin Johnson was considered one of the best WR of all time and he was never on good teams. There is a long list of top WRs that never make their team good. I’m glad we didn’t sign this deal. 

[Boca BIlls]

5 hours ago, atlbillsfan1975 said:

Probably right. He will fit right in with the Raider way. 

basically Gruden traded Cooper for a first and and then got back the best wide receiver for a 3rd and 5th. On the surface Gruden doesn’t looks pretty savvy.  

They will be in cap hell for a WR that is past his prime.

[Gugny]

To all of those saying that this makes the Bills look bad, or wondering why Beane didn't offer a 3rd and a 5th .... come on.

 

This was about guaranteed money.  Lots of it.  What he did NOT have in Pittsburgh and what only Oakland was stupid enough to give him.

 

Bills win.  Raiders lose.

[Buddy Hix]

Not getting AB doesn’t really matter to me. But once again being reminded how irrelevant of a franchise/destination Buffalo is annoys me. 

[DefenseWins]

20 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I think the Bills may have offered a bit better trade compensation, but been 100% unwilling to offer Brown that much in the way of guarantees.

I agree with you that offering a diva WR who has gone AWOL on his team big guaranteed bucks is not the Path of Wisdom towards building a team

 

Just one question:

 

Do we know whether the Bills even had the opportunity to offer Brown a revised contract? All I have heard is that Brown essentially said "No way I'm going to Buffalo" as soon as he had heard of the trade.

 

 

[Juice_32]

1 hour ago, mannc said:

Yes, insane to pay Antonio Brown slightly more than Sammy Watkins got last year from KC.

 

 Please list, in alphabetical order, all of the Bills receivers in the history of the franchise who’ve had 15 TDs in a season.

 

Grapes are smelling kinda funky...

 

Please list in alphabetical order receivers (must be diva/locker room cancers too) have been worth 17m per year past age 30. I’ll wait......no sour grapes here pard. I’m just genuinely glad they didn’t make this move. 

 

Pay your QB, OL and pass rushers. You can’t sustain a team paying an aging WR 54 million. 

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

What happened to the Saints trade?

 

fake news I guess.  

 

 

Have fun on a bad team dummy 

[stuvian]

Very glad we let the stupid money grab the headlines. My God the Raiders are a trainwreck

[YoloinOhio]

8 minutes ago, DefenseWins said:

 

Just one question:

 

Do we know whether the Bills even had the opportunity to offer Brown a revised contract? All I have heard is that Brown essentially said "No way I'm going to Buffalo" as soon as he had heard of the trade.

 

 

This is from Carrucci’s article which Kirby says is accurate of what went down, and I tend to believe that since he knows the Steelers GM

https://buffalonews.com/2019/03/08/buffalo-bills-antonio-brown-pittsburgh-steelers-brandon-beane-nfl-football/

Quote

 

Parallel  negotiations were ongoing between the Bills and the Steelers, and the Bills and Rosenhaus.

A source said that Bills co-owners Terry and Kim Pegula were kept abreast along the way.

The Bills had to agree with Brown on the terms of a new deal while also working with the Steelers on trade compensation.

Whatever compensation the Bills would agree to give the Steelers was directly tied to whatever financial terms Brown was seeking. It stands to reason that the larger the payout for Brown, the lower the compensation the team would be willing to give in order to reduce the risk, and vice versa.

As the talks unfolded, it didn't take long to determine the trade was going nowhere.

 

The Buffalove

Neither Beane nor anyone from the Bills spoke directly with Brown. Beane has never met him, so there is no way of truly knowing from the Bills’ end how he feels about the team or Buffalo.

However, sources said the Bills were confident if they met his financial demand and were able to make the trade, Brown would have happily joined them.

Despite speculation that their inability to acquire Brown doesn’t bode well for their efforts to sign players during the NFL’s unrestricted free-agent period that begins Wednesday, the Bills believe what was true before about signing players in the open market remains true: money talks.

It has been the Bills’ experience that there are certain players who prefer to play in larger markets and, if contract offers are equal, will choose those teams. The Bills also have found there are some who would rather play in smaller markets.

Still, money is always the largest factor in signing free agents.

Edited March 10, 2019 by YoloinOhio

[Hapless Bills Fan]

6 minutes ago, DefenseWins said:

 

Just one question:

 

Do we know whether the Bills even had the opportunity to offer Brown a revised contract? All I have heard is that Brown essentially said "No way I'm going to Buffalo" as soon as he had heard of the trade.

 

Officially of course, no one can offer a revised contract until the league year opens next week.

 

Unofficially, one perennial answer to "No way I'm going to (team)" is to "make an offer too good to refuse" and try to change the guy's mind.   Apparently the Bills were unwilling to play that game, and if what AB wanted was big guaranteed money, I can't fault them.

 

[DefenseWins]

2 minutes ago, Juice_32 said:

 

Please list in alphabetical order receivers (must be diva/locker room cancers too) have been worth 17m per year past age 30. I’ll wait......no sour grapes here pard. I’m just genuinely glad they didn’t make this move. 

 

Pay your QB, OL and pass rushers. You can’t sustain a team paying an aging WR 54 million. 

 

Gotta disagree. In this instance, in particular since Allen is gonna be on his rookie deal all three of the years in question here, and keeping in mind that the cap has been going up by $10 million a year, and also keeping in mind the Bills current amount of spendable cap money that's available the Bills could have very well afforded a contract of this type to get what is arguably the best WR in the NFL.

 

I'm not necessarily saying that I would have made that move but it is not that unthinkable. The Raiders certainly think so.

 

2 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Officially of course, no one can offer a revised contract until the league year opens next week.

 

Unofficially, one perennial answer to "No way I'm going to (team)" is to "make an offer too good to refuse" and try to change the guy's mind.   Apparently the Bills were unwilling to play that game, and if what AB wanted was big guaranteed money, I can't fault them.

 

 

I'm not faulting anyone either. I just don't know that we can assume that Beane even got the opportunity.

[Mr. WEO]

5 minutes ago, Gugny said:

To all of those saying that this makes the Bills look bad, or wondering why Beane didn't offer a 3rd and a 5th .... come on.

 

This was about guaranteed money.  Lots of it.  What he did NOT have in Pittsburgh and what only Oakland was stupid enough to give him.

 

Bills win.  Raiders lose.

 

Why is the guaranteed money such a big deal (or "stupid")?  This is essentially the same deal Sammy Watkins got....and Watkins ain't no AB, to put it very kindly.

 

OBJ is getting 65 million guaranteed on a 5 year 90 million deal!  Mike Evans 55 million guaranteed on an 82 million deal. 

 

This Bills are paying Latooleeoooleee 50 million with 25 million guaranteed.  Granted it's over 5 year, but it's also for a zero impact player.

 

Guaranteed money isn't stupid, it's part of the deal.  Standard stuff.  As a % of his total contract, AB's guarantee is the lowest of that group.

 

 

[YoloinOhio]

21 minutes ago, Gugny said:

To all of those saying that this makes the Bills look bad, or wondering why Beane didn't offer a 3rd and a 5th .... come on.

 

This was about guaranteed money.  Lots of it.  What he did NOT have in Pittsburgh and what only Oakland was stupid enough to give him.

 

Bills win.  Raiders lose.

I have no doubt they offered more than the raiders but it didn’t matter because they wouldn’t do the contract. There was only one team willing to do the contract. The Raiders. And they ended up bidding against themselves. I’m amazed anyone thinks the Bills wouldn’t give up a 3rd and 5th for him. Of course they would. Any number of teams would. They just didn’t want to do the contract which is likely tied to the risk involved based on his recent history. 

 

This is an interesting listen on why they couldn’t get rid of him for decent compensation and why they are paying 21 mill in dead cap for him to go away. Brutal 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2019 by YoloinOhio

[Mr. WEO]

7 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

This is from Carrucci’s article which Kirby says is accurate of what went down, and I tend to believe that since he knows the Steelers GM

https://buffalonews.com/2019/03/08/buffalo-bills-antonio-brown-pittsburgh-steelers-brandon-beane-nfl-football/

 

 

So the claim made here over and over that Brown wouldn't come to Buffalo at any price is bogus.

[DefenseWins]

Just now, Mr. WEO said:

 

 

So the claim made here over and over that Brown wouldn't come to Buffalo at any price is bogus.

 

Can you summarize for us non-paying people... Did Beane refuse to sweeten the contract? 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

5 minutes ago, DefenseWins said:

Gotta disagree. In this instance, in particular since Allen is gonna be on his rookie deal all three of the years in question here, and keeping in mind that the cap has been going up by $10 million a year, and also keeping in mind the Bills current amount of spendable cap money that's available the Bills could have very well afforded a contract of this type to get what is arguably the best WR in the NFL.

 

I'm not necessarily saying that I would have made that move but it is not that unthinkable. The Raiders certainly think so.

 

I'm not faulting anyone either. I just don't know that we can assume that Beane even got the opportunity.

 

It wouldn't make logical sense that the Bills wouldn't get the opportunity.  Once teams are engaged in legit trade talks, I believe it's pretty common to ask and receive permission to contact the player's agent to clear up any contract issues.  And the timeline and points laid out in the Carrucci article Yolo linked make sense: " Whatever compensation the Bills would agree to give the Steelers was directly tied to whatever financial terms Brown was seeking. It stands to reason that the larger the payout for Brown, the lower the compensation the team would be willing to give in order to reduce the risk, and vice versa. "

 

[Putin]

On 3/8/2019 at 4:31 PM, Alphadawg7 said:

 

I think them or Cleveland are two most likely.  Steelers GM said he never ruled out a divisional team, just wants best deal.  

Oh just because GM said ? 

Why would they trade top WR in the league to a team that’s in the division AND is on the rise AND is picked by many to win the  division ( even before adding AB ) , I’m not sure but didn’t Cleveland beat them last year ? 

If what you suggest does happen and AB gets traded to the Browns that (IMO ) would be the dumbest trade in the history 

 

[Mr. WEO]

1 minute ago, DefenseWins said:

 

Can you summarize for us non-paying people... Did Beane refuse to sweeten the contract? 

 

 

See Yolo's quoted bit from the article above. 

 

Whole threads have been dedicated to the idea that Brown would "refuse to show up" if traded to the Bills.  The article he quotes contradicts that.

[NoSaint]

42 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I think the Bills may have offered a bit better trade compensation, but been 100% unwilling to offer Brown that much in the way of guarantees.

I agree with you that offering a diva WR who has gone AWOL on his team big guaranteed bucks is not the Path of Wisdom towards building a team

 

It’s less than 2 years salary guaranteed. 

 

I know we haven’t paid a WR market rate lately so the numbers seem huge and scary but I’d rather do it for 3 years of brown than a much larger number for a guy that hasn’t been a proven #1. 

 

As as long as healthy, the guys not getting the paycheck if he doesn’t show

[Mr. WEO]

1 minute ago, Putin said:

Oh just because GM said ? 

Why would they trade top WR in the league to a team that’s in the division AND is on the rise AND is picked by many to win the  division ( even before adding AB ) , I’m not sure but didn’t Cleveland beat them last year ? 

If what you suggest does happen and AB gets traded to the Browns that (IMO ) would be the dumbest trade in the history 

 

 

uhhhh.....what?

[YoloinOhio]

1 minute ago, DefenseWins said:

 

Can you summarize for us non-paying people... Did Beane refuse to sweeten the contract? 

The trade comp was correlated to the size of the contract. I think the Bills were willing to give the best deal to the Steelers. They just weren’t willing to meet AB’s contract demands  the way the Raiders were. The Raiders gave up less in draft picks, but were able to the deal because they met the contract demands

[NoSaint]

4 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

It wouldn't make logical sense that the Bills wouldn't get the opportunity.  Once teams are engaged in legit trade talks, I believe it's pretty common to ask and receive permission to contact the player's agent to clear up any contract issues.  And the timeline and points laid out in the Carrucci article Yolo linked make sense: " Whatever compensation the Bills would agree to give the Steelers was directly tied to whatever financial terms Brown was seeking. It stands to reason that the larger the payout for Brown, the lower the compensation the team would be willing to give in order to reduce the risk, and vice versa. "

 

 

Obviously true of any trade ever in the history of trades. You pay more for team favorable contracts and less for risky ones

[Putin]

4 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

uhhhh.....what?

Uhhh ? What ?? What ???

[Mr. WEO]

Just now, NoSaint said:

 

It’s less than 2 years salary guaranteed. 

 

I know we haven’t paid a WR market rate lately so the numbers seem huge and scary but I’d rather do it for 3 years of brown than a much larger number for a guy that hasn’t been a proven #1. 

 

As as long as healthy, the guys not getting the paycheck if he doesn’t show

 

Well put.  The guaranteed money isn't a big deal for top WR contracts.  Look at that Brandon Cooks deal!!

 

The Raiders got a 1st for Cooper, who is now being paid 14 million by Dallas--and who will be FA at the end of the year looking to get paid.  They got the top WR for barely top 5 WR money for 3 years and insignificant draft picks. 

 

AB is a head case right now, and he will grow tired of lame duck year QB Crybaby Carr, but I don't see how this is dumb move by the Raiders.  The Steelers got crushed in every way on this deal.

[The Senator]

6 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

This is from Carrucci’s article which Kirby says is accurate of what went down, and I tend to believe that since he knows the Steelers GM

https://buffalonews.com/2019/03/08/buffalo-bills-antonio-brown-pittsburgh-steelers-brandon-beane-nfl-football/

 

Am watching Carruci on Sports Talk right now.  According to Vic, talks btwn Bills & Steelers began Tuesday and went on thru Thursday, at watch point Beane walked away because he didn’t feel comfortable with Brown’s contract demands.  After talks fell apart, Rappaport erroneously reported that a deal was imminent - he apparently wanted to be first, rather than right.  Beane would have preferred to keep it quiet, but Rappaport blew it.

 

Beane didn’t feel comfortable with the money demands because we’ve got a bunch of good young players here and, you bring in a guy like AB for all that money, the young guys are going to see his “me first” attitude and start acting the same way.  Essentially, Brown would be a cancer in the locker room.

 

Makes perfect sense to me.

 

Brown never said he wouldn’t report to Buffalo.  That was just more speculation and bad reporting.  If his contract demands were met, he would have reported on time, probably with a cup of Tim Horton’s in his hand, and had wings for lunch.

 

 I’m still glad he went with the Raiders.

.

[Green Lightning]

2 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

 

 

I disagree.  The Bills look wise.  There is a fat contract, Picks and a head case player involved.  Good for the Bills in putting themselves in the mix.  Even better that they walked.

 

This. I think we dodged a bullet. And I hope to Hell we play the Raiders soon.

[eball]

1 minute ago, The Senator said:

 

Am watching Carruci on Sports Talk right now.  According to Vic, talks btwn Bills & Steelers began Tuesday and went on thru Thursday, at watch point Beane walked away because he didn’t feel comfortable with Brown’s contract demands.  After talks fell apart, Rappaport erroneously reported that a deal was imminent - he apparently wanted to be first, rather than right.  Beane would have preferred to keep it quiet, but Rappaport blew it.

 

Beane didn’t feel comfortable with the money demands because we’ve got a bunch of good young players here and, you bring in a guy like AB for all that money, the young guys are going to see his “me first” attitude and start acting the same way.  Essentially, Brown would be a cancer in the locker room.

 

Makes perfect sense to me.

 

Brown never said he wouldn’t report to Buffalo.  That was just more speculation and bad reporting.  If his contract demands were met, he would have reported on time, probably with a cup of Tim Horton’s in his hand, and had wings for lunch.

 

 I’m still glad he went with the Raiders.

.

 

Great summary.  We've all heard Beane talk about building by "drafting and signing your own" and this makes sense.  He looked at AB's demands not simply in the short term, but how they would impact the roster moving forward.  Can't blame him for that sort of thinking.

[Mr. WEO]

4 minutes ago, Putin said:

Uhhh ? What ?? What ???

 

 

It's being reported from several sources that AB was not traded to the Browns but to the Raiders...might be fake news though.

[The Senator]

3 minutes ago, Green Lightning said:

 

This. I think we dodged a bullet. And I hope to Hell we play the Raiders soon.

 

We play them next season, in Las Vegas.

.

[NoSaint]

5 minutes ago, The Senator said:

 

Am watching Carruci on Sports Talk right now.  According to Vic, talks btwn Bills & Steelers began Tuesday and went on thru Thursday, at watch point Beane walked away because he didn’t feel comfortable with Brown’s contract demands.  After talks fell apart, Rappaport erroneously reported that a deal was imminent - he apparently wanted to be first, rather than right.  Beane would have preferred to keep it quiet, but Rappaport blew it.

 

Beane didn’t feel comfortable with the money demands because we’ve got a bunch of good young players here and, you bring in a guy like AB for all that money, the young guys are going to see his “me first” attitude and start acting the same way.  Essentially, Brown would be a cancer in the locker room.

 

Makes perfect sense to me.

 

Brown never said he wouldn’t report to Buffalo.  That was just more speculation and bad reporting.  If his contract demands were met, he would have reported on time, probably with a cup of Tim Horton’s in his hand, and had wings for lunch.

 

 I’m still glad he went with the Raiders.

.

 

How much extra money was the tipping point for losing the locker room? Like beane could guarantee 1.33 years and add 2m per but if he did 1.75 years and 4m extra the young guys would get the wrong message?

 

heck, it’s basically Sammy Watkins contract. On some level if you want a passing game we are going to have to get used to seeing big numbers for guys that may have some warts on their resume. 

5 minutes ago, eball said:

 

Great summary.  We've all heard Beane talk about building by "drafting and signing your own" and this makes sense.  He looked at AB's demands not simply in the short term, but how they would impact the roster moving forward.  Can't blame him for that sort of thinking.

 

Why’d he even start the talks then?

[oldmanfan]

1 minute ago, NoSaint said:

 

How much extra money was the tipping point for losing the locker room? Like beane could guarantee 1.33 years and add 2m per but if he did 1.75 years and 4m extra the young guys would get the wrong message?

 

heck, it’s basically Sammy Watkins contract. On some level if you want a passing game we are going to have to get used to seeing big numbers for guys that may have some warts on their resume. 

 

Why’d he even start the talks then?

Because it's his job