Report: Anonymous Raider Says Steelers 'Fleeced' OAK with Brown, Bryant Trades

Twice in as many seasons, the Oakland Raiders acquired a wide receiver from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Suffice it to say neither acquisition panned out the way they planned.

With Antonio Brown's future in doubt and Martavis Bryant out of football, executives have begun to pile on the Raiders for what they've deemed questionable moves.

"Pittsburgh fleeced this team twice," a person close to the Raiders told Sports Illustrated's Jenny Vrentas and Greg Bishop.

The Bryant trade was an unmitigated fleecing. The Raiders gave up a third-round pick for the talented-but-troubled wideout who missed the entire 2016 season because a drug suspension and was coming off a down 2017 campaign that at one point saw him be sent to the scout team for disciplinary reasons.

Bryant played in just eight games with the Raiders, recording 19 receptions for 266 yards. The NFL suspended him indefinitely again in December for a violation of the league's drug policy.

The Brown situation is far more complicated. At the time the trade was completed, it looked like a fleecing by the Raiders, if anything. They send another third-round pick Pittsburgh's way, along with a fifth-rounder, for Brown. 

Whereas Bryant had a history of off-field problems, Brown is a perennial Pro Bowler who has never been suspended by the NFL. His falling-out with the Steelers seemed to be more related to a personal tiff with Ben Roethlisberger and a desire for a new contract. The Raiders handed Brown a huge new deal and embraced him as a new face of their franchise—right until things began to fall apart.

Brown is now in limbo after a screaming match with Raiders general manager Mike Mayock on Thursday, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. The Raiders are reportedly planning to suspend Brown, ostensibly to get out from under the $30.125 million he's owed in guaranteed money.

The seven-time Pro Bowler was upset over Mayock fining him for missing a pair of team activities due to displeasure over the NFL banning his preferred helmet. While Mayock publicly called for Brown to be "all-in or all-out" in August, the situation appeared to be resolved until Brown posted a fine letter he received from the Raiders, signed by Mayock, on Instagram on Wednesday.

Now it's possible, if not likely, that Brown never plays a down in a Raiders uniform.

However, it's hard to call the trade a fleecing on the same level as the Bryant deal. The Raiders received a player with six straight 100-catch seasons in exchange for a pair of mid-round picks; it's a chance they had to take, even if the result has been a worst-case scenario.