The Pittsburgh Steelers were given a tough assignment by wide receiver Antonio Brown: find a trading partner who is willing to give me a pay raise and a bunch of guaranteed money with three years left on my contract. The trick is that Pittsburgh also had to get reasonable compensation for him in that process, and at the same time, Brown was actively sabotaging his trade value in order to ensure that the team would have to trade him by behaving erratically and badmouthing the organization.
That’s why they ultimately only got third- and fifth-round picks back from the Oakland Raiders in exchange for the services of one of the top football players in all of the NFL.