Mississippi wide receiver A.J. Brown is considered one of the top players at his position in this year’s draft class after registering 189 receptions for 2,984 yards and 19 touchdowns during his college career. Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have agreed to trade wide receiver Antonio Brown to the Oakland Raiders, A.J. Brown made it known on Twitter Monday that he would like the opportunity to be the team’s new AB, albeit hopefully in different uniform number than No. 84, if at all possible.
“I’ll be the new AB in Pittsburgh …lol draft me . Just give me a different number,” the draft hopeful tweeted.
A 2017 and 2018 Biletnikoff semi-finalist, A.J. Brown has already been drafted once as the San Diego Padres selected him in the 19th round of the 2016 MLB Draft out of high school. While he did sign a contract with the Padres, it’s pretty clear now that A.J. Brown’s best shot at playing professional sports will be as a wide receiver in the NFL. How soon he’ll be selected by an NFL team in this year’s draft is obviously yet to be seen but his name is expected to be called somewhere within the first three rounds.
At the recently concluded NFL scouting combine, A.J. Brown measured in at 6004, 226-pounds with 32 7/8-inch arms and 9 3/4-inch hands. His 40-time was 4.49-seconds, according to the NFL, and he posted a 36.5-inch vertical jump in addition to a 10’0″ broad jump. He will apparently do the 20-yard shuttle and 3-cone drill during his pro day after choosing to bypass those events while in Indianapolis.
A.J. Brown reportedly had a formal interview with the Steelers at the combine, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and that’s probably not overly shocking with him being a declared underclassman this year.
A.J. Brown is probably best described as a big slot receiver when it comes to his position. Currently, JuJu Smith-Schuster plays a similar type role with the Steelers. With Antonio Brown now gone from the Steelers, the team might be looking for a wide receiver in this year’s draft best suited to play the X position like he did in Pittsburgh, should they not address that position in free agency.
Best position aside, A.J. Brown could find himself near the top of the Steelers draft board a few months from now and moving forward into the month of March, it will be interesting to see who the Steelers send to the Mississippi pro day to watch the younger Brown go through the paces. It will also be interesting to see if the Steelers bring A.J. Brown to Pittsburgh for a pre draft visit at some point.
You can read and learn more about A.J Brown in this great article on NFL.com and below is the player profile of the Mississippi product we already have posted on the site.
