Pittsburgh Steelers: If Antonio Brown is traded, defense should be the focus

The Antonio Brown trade rumors seem to escalate at least once a day. With the likelihood of a trade gaining steam, the Pittsburgh Steelers could begin to look forward to how they can better the team on the field without him.

Despite all of the drama and comments made about the latest chapter in the Antonio Brown saga, it was difficult to really believe that the Steelers would seriously consider trading away their best receiver…maybe ever. It’s not everyday an NFL team gets a generational talent at receiver, much less in the sixth round of the draft. So parting ways with a player of this caliber is probably the hardest pill a team would have to swallow.

Art Rooney II made some strong, decisive comments in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in which he stated it’s “hard to envision” Brown to be with the team come training camp in July. With ownership being publicly fed up with Brown, it seems like a trade is inevitable.

When it comes to the thought of a trade of Antonio Brown, the next order of speculation is what kind of a return can the Steelers realistically get? Mike Freeman of the NFL Network reported this on his Twitter on Friday:

If there’s real traction to this, the Steelers could be better off a lot quicker than people think. The Khalil Mack trade earlier this year included two first-round picks. The Dallas Cowboys also traded a first-round pick for Amari Cooper. The return for Brown may land somewhere in between these two instances, but if there’s a large, competitive market, the Steelers could get back some serious value.

Value will be what the Steelers will have to rely on if they do decide to part ways with Brown. They’ll be losing an ultra-talented player and will need to figure out a way to inject some more talent into the team. We have an article here on Still Curtain talking about what the Steelers could do to counteract any absence of Antonio Brown.

Ultimately, if the Steelers do trade Brown, they need to use whatever they get to address the defense. Let’s face it: without Brown, the offense is still very talented. The most the offense would need is a cheap veteran running back and potentially spending a draft pick on another receiver.

This could be an opportunity to get some REAL value on the defensive side of the ball. If they were to land an early first-round pick, they could  potentially add a Nick Bosa or Quinnen Williams. They could also trade back and gain even more additional picks. However they could do it, there are many ways to address the team with the kind of return they could get for Brown. The possibilities are endless.

The main focus with whatever they could get for Brown should be adding to the defense. While they finished sixth in overall defense in 2018, their inability to close out games and lack of creating turnovers was well-documented. The Steelers need more players with “splash play” capability, whether that means adding another edge rusher, adding to the secondary, or finding a potential Ryan Shazier replacement.

Defense still wins championships in the NFL. That’s never going to change. This is a great opportunity for the Steelers to pull the trigger and land some picks to help put this defense over the top.

You can never replace an Antonio Brown. His talent is off the charts. Football, however, is the ultimate team game. It takes all 11 guys on the field doing their job in order for a play to work. The toxicity of this situation has nearly escalated to a point of no return. The Steelers could capitalize on this unfortunate situation as a way to elevate the other side of the ball.