Antonio Brown Notes: Steelers, Broncos, Eagles, Contract

The Antonio Brown saga rages on, as the Steelers continue to look for a trade partner for the All-Pro receiver. Brown made recent comments to ESPN that indicated he wouldn’t be accepting anything other than complete control over his situation, saying “I don’t even have to play football if I don’t want. I don’t even need the game, I don’t need to prove nothing to anyone. If they wanna play, they going to play by my rules. If not, I don’t need to play.” Brown’s threats to no longer play come on the heels of a report that quarterback play is a strong factor on where Brown wants to be dealt.

Brown’s latest comments are a ploy to get the Steelers to release him, opines Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Following up on additional speculation that the Steelers may be forced to just release Brown, Ed Bouchette of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweeted that the Steelers “will never cut him,” and would rather trade him for a conditional seventh round pick than let Brown win. The latest report has the Eagles and Raiders as strong players in a potential Brown trade.

Here’s the latest on Brown from around the league:

  • The Broncos have been connected to Brown in the press, but the team isn’t interested in trading for him, according to Mike Klis of Denver 9 News (Twitter link). A source close to Denver GM John Elway gave Klis an “emphatic no” when he asked about the possibility of adding Brown. Klis writes that Browns is not “worth the price.” The Broncos recently announced Emmanuel Sanders would be back in 2019, and given that Sanders and Brown have feuded publicly in recent months, it makes sense why they wouldn’t be involved in Brown discussions.
  • Add the Eagles to the list of teams that won’t be trading for Brown, according to Zach Berman of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). A league source told Berman the Eagles “do not have interest.” The Eagles aren’t in the AFC and have shown a willingness to make bold, splashy moves so it seemed like a potential fit, but they apparently aren’t interested. Philly has also been linked to another soon-to-be former Steeler, Le’Veon Bell.
  • There was a report yesterday from Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com that said the Steelers don’t have to pay Brown’s $2.5MM roster bonus until Week 1 of the regular season. Florio seemed to indicate that meant the Steelers aren’t in the rush to trade Brown by March 17th, when the roster bonus is earned, that many have assumed. But Jason Fitzgerald of Overthecap.com pushed back on that in a tweet, saying he’s “never heard of not having to account” for a roster bonus in a trade, even when the bonus isn’t due until later. Based on Fitzgerald’s reporting, it sounds like the Steelers will still be on the hook for the $2.5MM cap hit if he’s on the roster on March 17th, even if they don’t have to pay it until later.
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