"I don't care who you need. I don't care what you need ... the answer would not come up 'Antonio Brown,'" Theismann told TMZ Sports.

"You can give me multiple choice on anyone you want, the one that would not come up would be 'Antonio Brown.'"

For his part, AB has said that he's done with the NFL ... and has re-enrolled in online classes at Central Michigan to kill the time.

Theismann says Brown does "unbelievable" things on the field ... but it's just not worth the baggage that comes with it.

"I wouldn't want to be on a team with him," Theismann tells us. "A lot of questions that I would be asked during the course of the week would be about him. It becomes a distraction to be perfectly honest with you."

"There's so much that's going on around his life that it just makes it really tough to say 'I just want to go to work every day and worry about myself.'"

We also ask Theismann about Washington's chances at making the playoffs ... and he is extremely optimistic.

Hey ... someone's gotta be.