Antonio Brown to the Vikings is less realistic than Santa Claus

For some reason, there are people that actually believe the Minnesota Vikings should look into finding a way to trade for the current Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver.

Let’s just get straight to it. People have are more likely to walk outside and see pigs flying in the sky than they are to hear about Antonio Brown ending up with the Minnesota Vikings this year.

It’s just not going to happen and thinking otherwise is just a waste of time.

Despite this, some are suggesting that the Vikings look into making a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers this year to acquire Brown.

Now, it is the offseason currently in the NFL and everyone is trying to come up with the most creative and interesting topics for people to talk about. But maybe discuss something that at least as a probability higher than one percent of actually happening?

Why doesn’t Minnesota look into trading for Aaron Rodgers too? Or what about Aaron Donald? The Vikings do need to possibly find a replacement for Sheldon Richardson this year and Donald has proven to be a pretty decent defensive tackle.

Entering his 10th season in the NFL, Brown has three years remaining on his current contract. If Minnesota were to acquire him this offseason, they would have to endure cap hits of around $12.6 million in 2019, and $11.3 million in 2020.

For the Vikings, who currently have about $7 million in cap space and plenty of other needs on their roster to fill, trading for the All-Pro receiver would be incredibly asinine.

What would it even take for Minnesota to acquire Brown? The Steelers certainly are not going to give him up for cheap.

Back in January, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported that Pittsburgh will be looking for a high draft pick in return for Brown and possibly a first-round selection.

People actually believe that Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, the guy who tries to get at least 10 draft picks per year, is going to give up an early-round selection to acquire a guy that fills zero needs on his team’s roster?

In order to trade Brown, realistically, the Steelers are likely going to be looking for trade compensation similar to what Minnesota received from the Oakland Raiders in exchange for Randy Moss back in 2005. In order to acquire Moss, the Raiders sent one of their top young linebackers in Napolean Harris, their 2005 first-round draft pick, and another draft selection from the seventh-round to the Vikings.

Would Minnesota be willing to give up a promising young defender like linebacker Eric Kendricks, their 2019 first-round pick, and another draft selection in order to acquire Brown from Pittsburgh this year?

The easy answer is no.

Say the Vikings were somehow able to convince the Steelers to send over Brown in a trade. Where exactly is he going to fit in Minnesota’s offense?

Brown is definitely not going to be okay with being the Vikings’ No. 3 receiver. So is Minnesota going to demote Stefon Diggs, who just signed a $72 million extension with the team last year, or Adam Thielen, who is coming off of a 2018 season in which he finished with the second-highest single-season reception total in franchise history?

No, neither is going to happen.

No one is disputing how immensely talented of a player Brown is and will likely continue to be. But based on the Vikings’ current roster and their lack of spending money this year, wasting their valuable assets to acquire a guy that fills absolutely zero of their offseason needs is not a risk they can afford to take.