After many twists and turns, the Antonio Brown saga finally came to an end when the Steelers agreed to trade the embattled receiver to the Raiders. To sort out everything that went down, Albert Breer of SI.com took a deep dive into the trade negotiations and broke down the events that led up to the agreement to send Brown to Oakland. While reports that Brown wanted a new contract only began trickling out in the past few days, Breer writes that teams were aware of his demands long before that. Breer notes that teams knew they’d have to give Brown a new contract if they traded for him a month ago, right when this all started.
It helps explains why things took so long to heat up, and why there weren’t too many known suitors. Brown’s demands apparently only got larger as the process went on, as Breer notes that “Brown went from initially wanting tweaks (getting existing money guaranteed, etc.) to wanting a big raise.” Breer confirms that a trade was indeed close with the Bills, and that after talks with Buffalo fell apart over money, the Eagles, Redskins and Raiders all reached out. Presumably, those were the three mystery teams “still alive” in this report from Friday. After the Raiders and Steelers agreed on draft compensation, “the deal was on the verge of crumbling” at one point Saturday as talks between Oakland and Brown’s agent hit an impasse. Obviously, things eventually got sorted out and Brown got the added money he was looking for.
Here’s more surrounding the All-Pro wideout:
- While everyone just wants it to be over, things aren’t done quite yet. A source emphasized to Gerry Dulac of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link) that the “trade is agreement only and ‘it’s never over till it’s over.'” Interestingly, Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL Network then tweeted that she was told “exactly the same thing” by a different member of the Steelers organization. This could turn out to be nothing, but it’s worth noting coming from multiple places. It would be fitting for things to fall apart now given how dramatic the whole ordeal has been.
- Brown’s agent, NFL super-agent Drew Rosenhaus, appeared on NFL Network after the trade and said he got permission to negotiate with the Raiders on Brown’s behalf Friday afternoon, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). If that timeline is accurate, it would mean that Oakland had already received permission to negotiate with Brown when the trade with Buffalo was supposedly breaking down. Rosenhaus refused to say whether Brown would’ve reported to his new team if he hadn’t gotten a new contract. Rosenhaus also had praise for new Raiders GM Mike Mayock, saying he acted like a “veteran NFL GM” throughout the process.
So when Julio, Tyreek, and Michael Thomas all get better deals than Brown’s is he gonna want another new one?
Everyone wants new deals because they “outplayed” their contract. How about when you decline the team can give you a new deal that pays you less?
That has always been a policy do you not understand sports?
They cut them or force pay cuts lmao
Lmfao you’re a joker. How about when you think about commenting, you don’t?
Practice what you preach
I wasn’t referring to your post I was yo of9376
That’s almost exactly what happens when teams cut guys! The NFL needs to have guaranteed money like the other major sports. Guys rarely try and rework deals in baseball.
If they had guaranteed contracts, there wouldn’t be holdouts and players demanding new deals. But they aren’t. The fact of the matter is that when a player outplays their contract, the team reaps that benefit, and if a player doesn’t outplay their contract, the team is play cuts them and moves on. Look at Kaepernick, he got a large contract, but once he was past the guaranteed portion, the team didn’t honor the remainder of it. Vick once signed a 10 year contract, same result. If both sides aren’t going to be bound by the terms of the contract, why should one be?
Players agents negotiate the deals for them. If they wanted more guarantees, negotiate for them. Kirk Cousins did it last year so it’s not like it can’t be done. Players negotiating for more incentive money is on them and not the team for using the system currently in place.
Seems to be a “one way” street. Try these negotiations on your employer and see how this works outside sports/entertainment . It’s a joke. Our societies priorities seem outline. The madness has to end!
I’m sure You’re pretty replaceable by your employer, so I wouldn’t advice you to do that. When you’re the best of the best of your profession, then you’re not replaceable. And have leverage to negotiate. That’s how the world works
How bout 2 yrs before your contract is up you can’t get cut
People need to stop acting like they wouldn’t do whatever they had to if it meant being compensated at their job.
The owners play the game when they cut guys before the contracts are up & the players do what they got to when they feel they consistently out perform theirs.
By no means am I justifying or saying what AB did was right but ppl on here act like the owners are not just as cut throat or worse.
u can bet on it. his word, handshake, and signature mean nothing obviously.
Contracts that owners sign, then CUT players mean nothing either. Obviously.
Did he have a no trade clause?
Yeah, the Steelers have lost enough. They should fire whoever said that & shouldn’t push this any further.
I can’t imagine how bad it would be for them if they pulled out of the deal or if they tried to stuff something into the deal that forced the Raiders to kill the deal. That’d be a real good look, super professional. They’d likely end up choosing between accepting a 7th or just cutting AB at that point and going from AB is the vilian to maybe AB was right.
Pittsburg, go listen to Elsa, she’s got some advice for you.
Pittsburgh, with an H.
And they clearly meant the deal isn’t done until it’s done in case Mr. Big Chest wakes up tomorrow and decides he now wants to be named CEO of the Raiders and Mayor of Oakland or else the deal is off and he’ll retire.
Which could happen.
Get over it, man….
And like that…he’s gone.
The only true positive in this for Raiders fans, is the praise for their GM. It’s encouraging to hear that Mayock is already working to change the culture from that end.
I imagine everyone is happy the drama in Pittsburgh is on it’s last legs….except maybe Robert Kraft.
You really think the drama is over? All of sudden the QB is gonna change his stripes? Wishful thinking
Why is it that this is the first teammate of Roethlisberger that’s called him out? Literally no other teammates have said boo about him but the “me first” WR is suddenly the credible one?
I told you asshats a week ago that they wouldn’t get a 1st round pick for Brown. Atleast no one was dumb enough to take me up on my $50 bet, which is quite surprising, actually.
I blame the Madden cover curse on this.
Say what you want about the character of AB,,,,,,,you just know he’s gonna have a banner year and at the same time being a top shelf teammate,,,,2 or 3 yrs from now things may change,,,,but in the meantime, RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAIIIIDDDDEEERRRRSSSS!,,’,,just win baby!
We really don’t know that. The Raiders showed it was the system and not the players were the issue. Amari Cooper went from looking like a bum to looking like an all pro. You think AB won’t regress? That’d be might foolish.
Two people saying a signature on the contract obviously means nothing are idiots. How many times every year do we see a guy getting let go when he’s only in the middle of his contract. Now if the NFL went with guaranteed contracts this would not be happening. All you Steeler fans stop acting like crybabies your management and your cancer of a quarterback for this to happen.
I totally agree and I am a die hard Steeler fan. Was anybody on this board talkin that signature handshake or word nonsense when the Steelers let Mike Mitchell go before his contract was up ?
Stop taking the owners sides we watch the game for the players not the owners.
Cancer of a qb. You act like players are wanting out left and right citing Ben as the reason why. You know pouncey wants to retire when Ben does? It’s pretty clear Brown wanted more money. I wouldn’t as much as you think on Ben for brown wanting out
Many of the same people seem to be pushing two contradictory narratives simultaneously…that Ben forced the team to trade Big Chest and that Big Chest had to act like a braying jack… in order to get traded.
If he’d acted even slightly like an adult, he would have had half of the league vying for his services and been able to still reject trades and demand a new deal, except with multiple bidders.
Instead, like the Steelers, he was forced to take what the Raiders would give him. He could have gotten $100 million with $50-60 guaranteed had he done things differently.
The cap hit was Colbert’s fault he pushes the that number every year and now ppl are crying because it happened to catch up with him
It’s nonsense how the fans are putting this all on AB and Tomlin is getting none of the blame here. He needs to tighten his ship and Ben needs to stop thinking he is a boss and not a teammate
This is more of a Mike Mayock move like Lynch made his first year with Jimmy G. Stand tall and make big moves. And PRAY they don’t get injured.
Now Pittsburgh has to get rid of the bigger problem at QB.
Management dictates the culture under which everyone operates so simply removing players won’t make the underlying problem disappear.