San Francisco 49ers: What to offer for Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown

The Pittsburgh Steelers appear willing to deal wide receiver Antonio Brown, and the San Francisco 49ers should be interested. Let’s break down the perfect trade package between the two teams.

Seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Antonio Brown to the San Francisco 49ers.

That could be the blockbuster trade fans read about between now and the 2019 NFL Draft. Offseason buzz surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers’ star receiver hasn’t overlooked the Niners at all. Niner Noise even broke down how such a deal between the two teams could work, financially.

And to spark the rumor mill, left tackle Joe Staley is the latest of a number of 49ers players to openly court Brown on social media:

OK, so one can imagine a receiver of Brown’s ilk in head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Even though Brown will turn 31 years old before the 2019 regular season, he still should be productive for the next three or four years.

But what would it take to get him?

The Steelers would have to eat a lot of money, but our previous article covered that already. What’s next is determining the trade package. Suggesting a first-round NFL Draft pick isn’t out of the question. However, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport suggested a second rounder could work:

Bingo.

The 49ers have only five picks in this year’s upcoming draft (picks in Rounds 5 and 7 were traded off for offensive linemen Laken Tomlinson and Shon Coleman, respectively).

One of San Francisco’s offseason needs is a wide receiver, made even more apparent by the fact no Niners wideout crested more than 500 receiving yards in 2018. And while that shortage could be addressed by using a second-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, grabbing an established talent via a trade sounds just as plausible.

But to outbid a number of other teams likely interested in Brown, the 49ers would have to offer something like the following:

There it is: two second-round draft picks.

If you’re thinking that’s not enough to get it done, chew on this — as Fourth and Nine’s Dylan DeSimone pointed out, the Kansas City Chiefs traded two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marcus Peters, who was still affordable on his rookie contract, in exchange for a 2018 fourth- and a 2019 second-round pick, while getting a sixth rounder back in return.

Brown has more accolades to his name, sure. But if the Steelers are eager to move him (it sounds like they are), two Round 2 picks could be enough to get the deal done without endangering the 49ers’ long-term plans.

Unless someone outbids San Francisco, of course.