The Antonio Brown saga continued today with a new dose of drama. The All-Pro receiver liked several tweets referencing past accusations of sexual assault against Ben Roethlisberger, per Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com. The team has attempted to calm tempers and dial things back the past couple of weeks, but Brown has only gotten more aggressive in his demands to leave the team.
It had looked for a while recently like a reunion between the two sides was a real possibility, but actions like this are making those chances seem slimmer by the second. Roethlisberger isn’t going anywhere, and an argument between Brown and his longtime quarterback is apparently what sparked all of this back in Week 17. Crazier things have happened, but even though Brown will reportedly meet with Steelers owner Art Rooney soon, it still seems like a trade is inevitable.
Here’s more from around the AFC:
- Tom Brady has famously taken somewhat of a discount on his contracts to help the Patriots build winning teams around him, and he’s in line for another new contract soon. The 41-year-old plans to keep playing until he’s 45, and is heading into the final year of his current deal in 2019. Former NFL agent and current CBS Sports analyst Joel Corry took a look at what an extension for Brady might look like, and what type of discount he might be willing to take this time around. Corry writes that it’s “extremely unlikely Brady will exploit his leverage” in negotiations, and that it’s only a “matter of how big of a discount he’ll give the Patriots.”
- Speaking of the AFC East, two of the Patriots’ longtime rivals will be in position to make some major moves this offseason if they want to. The Bills “top the list of expected spenders with what should be close to $89 million to spend on free agents” this offseason, while the Jets are in second place “with about $88 million”, writes cap expert Jason Fitzgerald of Overthecap.com. The Jets and general manager Mike Maccagnan haven’t been shy about their desire to make a splash in free agency, while Buffalo will likely be much more conservative. New York has been frequently mentioned as a potential landing spot for Le’Veon Bell, and it’ll be very interesting to see what they do with all that money.
- In case you missed it, former Jets offensive coordinator John Morton resurfaced with the Raiders yesterday.
Right when I thought I couldn’t love AB anymore, all signs point to Ben being the reason AB wants out.
You have to understand that a lot of spin in this drama is created by the Steelers to make anyone but Rooney look responsible for the mess. Ben is a pretty convenient fall guy with Mike Tomlin next in line.
Ben won with Nate Washington and Cedric Wilson. Ben greater than AB. My guess is AB is more Santino Holmes than Emmanuel Sanders. He will never approach the numbers he put up in Pittsburgh. I would keep him, make him inactive each week, wait for the explosion, then I wouldn’t have to pay him! That inactive status would just kill him! He has so decreased his value that Pittsburgh can’t get anything in return for him, so put him on ICE!
The DEFENSE won with those guys, don’t get it twisted. His performance in the 1st SB was worse than Goff’s a couple weeks ago. 9/21 with 2 INT’s. Is abysmal. Why can’t he carry the team to a SB with a mediocre defense?
Ben should have been banned for life for 2 sexual assault charges.. all u people calling for lifetime bans for Foster and Hunt..Ben is the worst human in the NFL for his acts ..but yet hes lauded
Innocent until proven guilty
I am a Steeler fan die hard thru & thru but far from a Ben fan.
Reality is diva WR are expendable where great QBs are not. All AB is doing is driving his value down further & further to the point where the Steelers will just hold him back and let his prime years just fly by. He will be paid but his legacy and HOF credentials will take a hit.
What’s the point of trading a guy that you gotta take the cap hit on when you can’t get anything nearly close to his value.
Jets should trade down with a team hungry for a QB and use a piece of what they get to trade for Brown.