The Oakland Raiders acquired star wide receiver Antonio Brown in a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this month, but it was a deal that almost didn't happen.

During Brown's Boomin' Experience Podcast that was recorded back on March 5, Brown's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, was on the show and said that he believed the Raiders were falling out of the picture in trade discussions:

“Oakland I think is fading, man,” said Rosenhaus. “I kind of get the sense they're fading a little bit.”

Brown was then dealt to Oakland four days later, with the Steelers receiving a third-round draft pick and a fifth-rounder in return.

What a wild ride it has been for Brown over the last several months.

The 30-year-old, who spent the first nine years of his NFL career in Pittsburgh, had a shaky relationship with the Steelers for quite some time, but things reached a boiling point in the week leading up to the season finale when Brown got into a heated argument with Ben Roethlisberger that ended in Brown throwing a football at the quarterback.

Brown then refused to practice, complained of knee pain but refused to go for an MRI, and then went AWOL on the team before being consequently benched by head coach Mike Tomlin for Pittsburgh's Week 17 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The seven-time Pro Bowler then proceeded to ask for a trade, and while some felt that there was hope of Brown patching things up with Roethlisberger and the Steelers organization, no such thing ever happened.