Twitter was set on fire early on Sunday morning, as the Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to a trade for star wide receiver Antonio Brown.
It finally happened late Saturday night, or early Sunday morning, depending on your Daylight Savings Time location, but the Oakland Raiders traded for Antonio Brown. In exchange for AB, Oakland gave up two draft picks in 2019, but they were nowhere near the bounty the Steelers had originally requested.
When the trading rumors started, Pittsburgh had been rumored of wanting two first for Brown, a notion that eventually was downgraded to one first rounder. Well, Raiders first-year general manager Mike Mayock gave up way less for him, sending a third and fifth round pick to the Steelers in exchange for the best wide receiver in football.
The statistics are off the charts in terms of Brown’s production, as he has not only gone over 1,000 yards in each of the last six seasons, but has hauled in over 100 receptions as well. Nobody has had that kind of production, and now the future Hall of Famer will get to catch passes from a 27-year old quarterback in Derek Carr who should be slated for a breakout season in 2019.
Here are some of the better tweets after the trade went down.
Good morning world! Well, I got one half of my @raiders wish list @AB84 Welcome to the Silver And Black #businessisboomin @NFL @nflnetwork
— Charles Woodson (@CharlesWoodson) March 10, 2019
CWood chimed in early Sunday morning.
Welcome to the Nation @AB84 pic.twitter.com/eUOWUJ4VWM
— Maurice Hurst Jr (@mohurstjr) March 10, 2019
Big Mo welcoming AB to the Nation.
I'll take Amari Cooper over Antonio Brown any day. Amari just makes plays, not waves.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) March 10, 2019
Skip Bayless with an absolutely horrendous take.
The previous Mr. Big Chest in Las Vegas. #DanTana pic.twitter.com/ud2Dj1BoAW
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) March 10, 2019
Rich Eisen talking up Mr. Big Chest.
Antonio Brown had more receiving TD (15) in 2018 than the all #Raiders wide receivers combined (9)@AB84 @Raiders
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) March 10, 2019
A pretty glaring statistic.
☠️☠️☠️ #RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/ul6lIVk9dE
— AB (@AB84) March 10, 2019
And of course fire from AB
Brother let's get to work! https://t.co/L2JwgKypoP
— Derek Carr (@derekcarrqb) March 10, 2019
True Love.
Brown is obviously a huge get for the Raiders, who had a major hole at the wide receiver position. Teaming him with Jordy Nelson atop the depth chart is a great start to the offseason, and with all four of their top picks remaining, this is a team that should be much-improved in 2019.
The Raiders came into this offseason with plenty of cap space, and while they did make Brown the highest-paid wide receiver in football, they still have a lot to spend. There are plenty of holes on this roster remaining, but they were able to hang on to their four picks in the first 35 selections, giving them the most early draft ammunition of any team in the NFL.