Martavis Bryant may be intent on doing everything in his power to force his way out of Pittsburgh, but that doesn’t mean he is going to be successful.
Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Steelers have no intention of trading Bryant before the Oct. 31 trade deadline. They also aren’t expected to discipline the receiver for not showing up for a mandatory team meeting on Monday.
After Sunday’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals, Bryant made some comments on Instagram criticizing rookie teammate JuJu Smith-Schuster and indicating he wants the Steelers to trade him. Veteran offensive lineman Ramon Foster said Monday that he wishes Bryant showed up to work so he could explain himself.
“I just wish he were here to answer his own questions,” Foster said.. “I’m over that. I don’t know what happened. I think he called in sick today. I don’t know. I just wish he were here to answer his own questions. You can’t throw that stuff out there on social media land and expect no forest fires behind it.
“He can’t leave us here to answer, is how I feel about it. I feel like last week we kind of pushed it aside and then you double down on it? Not cool from a teammate perspective.”
Bryant’s agent told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network that the 25-year-old felt ill on Monday morning and went to see a doctor. As Bouchette notes, Bryant has missed some practice time the last two weeks with what the Steelers labeled an illness.
Even though Bryant recently mocked a report about him wanting to be traded, he is not fooling anyone anymore. The problem is he has been suspended multiple times for failed drug tests, so the Steelers know they aren’t going to get anything for him in a trade. Unless Bryant becomes an unmanageable headache, the team will probably just ride it out.
