Atlanta Falcons Early Favorites to Land Antonio Brown Sweepstakes

If Antonio Brown in an Atlanta Falcons jersey sounds crazy to you, that’s because simply put, it is. Brown is likely going to be traded this off-season and some oddsmakers have the Falcons as the favorites to land Brown.

Antonio Brown and the Atlanta Falcons have one thing in common they are both in for very long offseasons. The Falcons are coming off of a very disappointing season that saw them miss the playoffs for the first time in three years.

Brown is coming off of another solid year but has continued to be plagued by drama and off the field issues. This isn’t an indictment on Brown’s ability or his work ethic. Brown works hard to improve and does everything he can to be the best receiver in the League.

Everything aside from treating his team as his own, Brown is great but he is also made it clear he is about Antonio Brown. Two seasons ago the Steelers Head Coach was giving a speech after a hard-fought win.

Where was Brown while his coach was addressing the team? He was on Facebook Live broadcasting a private speech that ended with Mike Tomlin in trouble and gave us a glimpse of what was to come for Antonio Brown.

Money doesn’t fix people, often it only exemplifies who we already are. For Brown, once he received a huge contract from the Steelers he has become a bigger issue for a team.

While the team shares some culpability in not holding Brown accountable they were in an understandably tight spot picking between production or behavior.  Now Brown has them backed into a corner, a corner that will likely result in one of the best receivers in the League being traded.

Brown didn’t show up for practice or communicate in the days leading up to the final game of the season. A game that the Steelers were playing for their playoff lives, Brown didn’t show up to practice and opted to not come into the facilities until Sunday expecting to play.

Finally, the Steelers have had enough and sat AB after his latest outburst. While there are conflicting reports on what caused Brown to fail to show up for practice the simple fact is he didn’t show up for work when his team needed him most.

Since their season has ended Steelers ownership made it clear they are likely to trade Brown this off-season and they have a hard time seeing Brown in a Steelers jersey next season.

These are strong words when you consider Brown has the exact same cap hit on or off the Steelers roster.  This points to the fact that the headache Brown has become for the Steelers isn’t worth the production, production that makes him one of the top three receivers in the League.

This fact should speak for itself, it likely means Brown has caused many issues in the past we aren’t privy to. It takes a lot to put a franchise star like Brown on the market which is where he finds himself now.

With this in mind, oddsmakers have released odds on who could land the star receiver. The Falcons were listed as favorites with the Lions coming in second.

Brown makes little sense for the Falcons considering receiver is one of their positions of strength. Julio Jones is the Falcon’s top receiver and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.  The thought of Brown on one side and Julio Jones on the other may be tempting for some Falcon’s fans but it simply wouldn’t be worth it for a myriad of reasons.

The first is the fact that Brown would cripple the Falcon’s cap space meaning they would have to improve simply in the draft and shopping for bargain bin free agents. The offensive and defensive lines that so badly need addressing would have to be put on the back burner.

If this reason doesn’t resonate enough for you consider how Brown would impact the Falcons and their “brotherhood” mentality. Brown isn’t about “brotherhood” or his team, he is proving he is about one thing, Antonio Brown.

A fact that isn’t going to change no matter the team who trades for the star. If Atlanta is smart if the Steelers come calling they simply won’t pick up the phone.