Teams that have spoken to the Pittsburgh Steelers about a potential Antonio Brown trade have been told that a deal is expected to be in place by Friday, league sources tell ESPN.
Any trade that is agreed upon can't be officially announced until next Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, when the 2019 league year begins. It is likely Brown will want a restructured contract from any team that acquires him. Brown has three years remaining on his deal, with scheduled base salaries of $12.625 million in 2019, $11.3 million in 2020 and $12.5 million in 2021, but he has no guaranteed money remaining on the contract.
As of last Friday, the three teams that have shown the most interest in the wide receiver were the Oakland Raiders, Washington Redskins and Tennessee Titans. In addition, a couple more teams have jumped into the fray in the past 24 to 48 hours, sources said, putting the total number of teams to which the Steelers have spoken in the past few days at six or seven.
The Steelers' asking price started as a first-round pick and other compensation but has been reduced to a first-round pick, sources have told ESPN.
Brown has officially been on the trading block since he met with Steelers brass last month.
In an interview with ESPN last week, the star wide receiver said he is not "angry" with the team but maintained his desire to be traded.
Antonio Brown discusses his issues with Ben Roethlisberger, Mike Tomlin and Art Rooney II that led to his trade request from the Steelers.
Speaking at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis last week, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said the team hasn't ruled out any partners in a potential trade.
"Ideally, you want to trade him to somebody that you'll never play," Colbert said. "But you can't do that. If you're good enough to get to the Super Bowl, you have to play him anyway."
Brown, who turns 31 in July, owns an NFL-record six consecutive 100-catch seasons, but he frustrated the organization when he failed to show up for a workday in Week 17 and was benched for the season finale.