Salary cap space precludes Redskins from entering Antonio Brown discussion

WR Antonio Brown is now a free agent, without spending a single second on the field of play for the Oakland Raiders. Oakland traded the Pittsburgh Steelers a third and a fifth-round pick for Brown's services, extended his contract and now have had to walk away as the walking distraction burned bridges in record time. A dizzying saga over the offseason included freezer-burned feet, refusal to use a helmet that met league safety standards, missed practices and all of the drama anyone could ever imagine.

Things came to a head this week when Brown was fined, made an Instagram post of it, was threatened with suspension, had his coach cut the legs out of the GM setting the rules, and then made a Youtube video about it. The entire ordeal was surreal, and came to a head when the Raiders used the fine to void all $30.1 million in guarantees. Brown then demanded his release and the team gave it to him Saturday morning.

Brown is now free to sign with any team willing to put up with him, and as the Washington Redskins are the most wide-receiver talent-depraved team in the league, there's a natural inclination for many to think they should unite.

Let's put away for a second the fact that the Washington head coach is the brother of the coach that just learned first hand what Mike Tomlin and the Steelers had been going through. For the sake of argument, let's assume Gruden is desperate enough to try and save his job he's willing to take the risk.

Brown cannot play in Week 1, which also means his salary will not be guaranteed for the year. That's only if he is willing to sign such a deal.

With the way he managed to get an additional $20 million on top of the $30 million contained in the contract that was traded from Pittsburgh to Oakland, Brown is likely going to try and find a situation where he has money guaranteed. That's the reason he asked for his release, after all.

Would Washington want that headache for a chance to achieve greatness? Most observers would say no. For now, those with inside information with the club say the team is saying no.

But what happens if the club shows up on Sunday and the passing game looks inept? Would Gruden panic and want to bring in a proven commodity?

With Trent Williams holding out, Washington has $16 million of salary cap space.

It's doubtful Washington would do anything to jeopardize his return, meaning they'd have to work out a way to fit Brown under the cap for under $5 million, and also restructure someone else's deal in order to have operating room for the 2019 season.

Working all of that out, for such a risky player who has now wanted out of two teams over the course of one regular season game, makes no sense.

However much Brown could help the Washington offense, they aren't in the financial position to even consider the absurd, unless he's willing to play for pennies on the dollar or they waive goodbye to Williams in some way. Neither seems likely.