Antonio Brown publicly said farewell to Pittsburgh Steelers fans on social media earlier this week, but there seems to be at least a small chance he could remain with the team in 2019.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported on Friday that Steelers owner Art Rooney II has been hoping to meet with Brown in an attempt to clear the air. While Rooney initially had no luck getting Brown to agree to have a conversation, the star wide receiver is now apparently planning to sit down with him.
A development: #Steelers WR Antonio Brown will now meet with owner Art Rooney II, showing respect to the man in charge, sources say.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 15, 2019
Antonio Brown has requested a trade. The #Steelers have not yet decided what to do. But at the very least, the owner will now get to sit down with one of his best players to clear the air and see what will happen moving forward. https://t.co/VwpmeEjKap
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 15, 2019
While that does not necessarily mean Brown and the Steelers will be able to smooth things over, it is certainly a start.
Some comments Rooney made earlier this offseason seemed to indicate he did not want Brown back in 2019, but those were made immediately after Brown went AWOL on the team in the final week of the season. Things may have changed with the parties having time to cool down.
If nothing else, the Steelers don’t want to appear desperate to trade Brown. That decreases the Pro Bowler’s value, as interested teams know it is only a matter of time before Pittsburgh is forced to pull the trigger on a deal. Things can change in a hurry in the NFL, but Las Vegas odds on where Brown is likely to end up at the start of the 2019 season say an awful lot. Brown could just be taking the meeting with Rooney out of respect for the owner.
