Wild series of trades brings Antonio Brown to Steelers
Antonio Brown became the 195th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. Many fans do not remember this, but the sixth-round draft pick the Steelers used to select AB exchanged hands with several teams before becoming Pittsburgh’s.
The 195th pick of this draft a story all it’s own. It begins with pick 155 in the fifth round, which was originally owned by the Philadelphia Eagles. A year earlier, the Eagles would trade CB Lito Sheppard to the New York Jets for two draft picks, a 2009 fifth-round choice and 2010 conditional draft pick. The conditional pick could’ve gone as high as the second-round depending on Sheppard’s playing time in New York.
As fate would have it, the Sheppard trade never worked out for the Jets and as the corner was released after a single season in the Big Apple. The Eagles would send a fifth-round pick, number 155, to the Jets as compensation.
Ten days before the 2010 NFL Draft kicked off, the Steelers picked up the phone to make a deal with the Jets. Little did Pittsburgh know that the aftermath of this specific trade would result in swapping a good receiver for a great receiver.
The Steelers would deal former first-round draft pick Santonio Holmes to the Jets for their fifth-rounder. Holmes had been recently suspended for the first four games of the 2010 NFL season and became a liability for Pittsburgh. The news was a shock to both fans, and the receiver himself, as the team took a late-round pick for the MVP of Super Bowl XLIII.
The Steelers were now in possession of the 155th overall pick, giving them two picks in the fifth-round. However, they weren’t settled with sitting on the selection, instead of engaging in talks with the team that Santonio Holmes helped Pittsburgh defeat in Super Bowl XLIII: the Arizona Cardinals.
Following the Super Bowl, the Cardinals signed Steelers cornerback Bryant McFadden away from their opponent on a two-year deal. Wanting McFadden after a year away in the desert, the Steelers dealt their newly acquired fifth-round draft pick (number 155) to Arizona in exchange for McFadden and a sixth-round pick.
That pick would be thirty spots further in the draft than the one they just dealt: pick number 195 in the sixth-round. Pittsburgh watched as the Cardinals used their pick (by way of the Eagles and Jets) on Fordham quarterback John Skelton.
Had any of these teams realized what would happen in the near future, they may have played their cards differently.
The Steelers would go on to draft Central Michigan wide receiver Antonio Brown with the Cardinal’s pick, in addition to retaining McFadden’s services for two more seasons. McFadden would go on to start every game during the 2010 season, in which Pittsburgh would make another appearance in a Super Bowl (in a losing effort against the Green Bay Packers).
Brown, of course, has become one of the league’s greatest receivers, and perhaps the greatest bargain from all of the related trades which started with the Jets and Eagles deal.
Lito Sheppard played a single season with the Jets, before playing his final two NFL seasons with the Vikings and Raiders.
The Eagles would use one of their picks acquired from the Jets to draft TE Cornelius Ingram, while they would trade the extra fourth-round pick and DE defensive end Chris Clemons to the Seattle Seahawks for defensive end Darryl Tapp.
Ingram would fail to make a 53-man roster in four NFL seasons. Clemons would play four seasons with Seattle, playing in Super Bowl XLVIII, before signing with Jacksonville for two seasons. He re-signed with the Seahawks in 2016, before formally retiring months later.
Darryl Tapp has had a long pro career but never amounted to ascended into a starting role with any team. He played three seasons with Philadelphia before moving on to the Redskins, Lions, and Saints (with whom he is currently signed).
John Skelton played three seasons with Arizona, appearing in 20 games with 17 starts. He owns an 8-9 overall record with the Cardinals, posting a 53.2% completion percentage while attempting 602 passes. He threw for 3,707 yards, 15 touchdowns and 25 interceptions throughout those games.
Santonio Holmes would spend four years with the Jets but would fail to improve upon his final year with the Steelers where he caught 79 passes for 1,248 yards and five touchdowns. In his first season the Jets (playing only twelve games due to suspension) Holmes would catch 52 passes. He would only have 51 receptions in a full season in 2011, before missing 12 games due to a Lisfranc injury in 2012. Holmes would drop to 23 receptions and a single touchdown in 11 games with New York in 2013, before playing his final NFL season with the Bears in 2014 (eight receptions for 67 yards).
Antonio Brown has been selected to the Pro Bowl the last three seasons, two of which he posted near-historic numbers in receptions and yards. Since 2013, Brown leads the NFL in catches (by 83), receiving yards (by 862) and receiving touchdowns (by 3).
To coin a phrase from the TV show Deal or No Deal: “I’ll take the deal Howie”.
