The Pittsburgh Steelers have come to accept the necessity of an Antonio Brown trade, but they still have some control over his ultimate destination and intend to exercises it.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Steelers prefer to trade Brown to an NFC team to avoid the threat of him playing in the same conference. They have definitively ruled out their AFC North rivals, as well as the New England Patriots, as potential trade destinations.
The Steelers are well aware of Brown’s status as one of the league’s best players, and would subsequently prefer him to impact the conference they’re not competing in.
GM Kevin Colbert said Friday that three teams have reached out about potential trades, though he did not characterize which teams they were or which conference they were in. This is pretty logical — Pittsburgh could certainly cross paths with Brown if he was in the NFC, but the risk would be minimized and they couldn’t face him in the playoffs before the Super Bowl.
