Antonio Brown trade rumors: 5 teams who should be in the mix

2. New York Jets

The Jets are firmly in the mix to sign Le’Veon Bell in free agency, even if they won’t break the proverbial bank to do it. But they also need to add some talent at wide receiver, as Sam Darnold gets ready to make leap in his second season.

As with every other team on this list, the Jets are flush with cap space ($95.076 million). This side of the Colts, no team can compete for players on the open market if the Jets want to pony up for someone. And as it relates to trades, they can obviously take on salary.

For the Jets in particular, adding Brown comes with the added risk of negative effect on a young quarterback. Brown’s relationship with Ben Roethlisberger seems to have been strained, but he also carried some weight as a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback who could put teammates in their place (lame public criticism aside). Darnold doesn’t have that resume yet, and if he did assert himself in some way would Brown cause drama? Not getting the ball enough for his liking seems sure to start in the huddle on the field, and then bleed into his social media accounts.

Risk and reward is there on a level of no other team on this list, but the Jets should be in trade conversations attached to Brown.