The big news at the beginning of the week was how wide receiver Antonio Brown and the Pittsburgh Steelers can’t play nice. Things got interesting for San Francisco 49ers fans when he started following the 49ers on Instagram.
Well, we now have odds on the Brown trade, thanks to the folks at BetOnline.ag. Yeah, you guys probably would use Fooch for this sort of thing, but remember: I worked in casinos for 10 years as a table games dealer and a shift manager. I’m not as fluent in sports booking, but I’ll give it a shot.
The odds are set on two different bets. The first is if Brown will be a Steeler come Week 1 of 2019 or be somewhere else. Odds opened up at -200 for yes an +150 for no which means he has a 37.5 percent chance of being on another team to open up the season.
Then there’s the individual odds on where he could go if traded. The 49ers sit right in the middle, with the New York Jets being the most favorable landing spot. The Steelers share the worst odds with the Seattle Seahawks as where he’d end up.
New York Jets 3/1
Oakland Raiders 4/1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 5/1
Philadelphia Eagles 7/1
Green Bay Packers 7/1
San Francisco 49ers 9/1
Indianapolis Colts 9/1
Baltimore Ravens 9/1
Houston Texans 12/1
Seattle Seahawks 16/1
Pittsburgh Steelers 16/1
9/1 is a nice bet for something like this and if I’m in a casino offering this wager, I’d definitely drop a few bucks for kicks. If I wasn’t a 49ers fan I probably would hold onto my cash, but as a fan it’s like dropping something on them at the start of the season to make the Super Bowl.
The problem with an Antonio Brown trade, odds aside, is that contract of his coupled with his age (he turns 31 this summer). If a trade happens, the 49ers get that huge salary plus they would have invested a draft pick in a 30 year old wide receiver. I would be more conservative than most in a trade and that’s the dilemma the Steelers are faced with right now. Sure Amari Cooper went for a first round pick but that’s a different scenario.
This story is far from over and I do think if the Steelers decide to move Brown (possible with JuJu Smith-Schuster putting together a solid 2018 wide receiver campaign of his own on the Steelers), the 49ers would be a prime spot if they could agree on a deal. It’s just a lot of moving parts in this situation.