Recent comments by Mike Tomlin plus a leak of negative information surrounding Antonio Brown has led to speculation that the Pittsburgh Steelers may be open to trading the wide receiver.
Brown signed a six-year deal before the 2012 season but restructured his deal last year with the expectation that the Steelers would take care of him this offseason. He is only under contract for through the 2017 season, which means the Steelers will have to pony up and pay him big bucks, or let him walk after the year.
Or they could try to trade him now.
Pro Football Talk speculates that the Steelers may be trying to send a message to the rest of the NFL that Brown is available in a trade.
After Brown’s Facebook Live controversy last week, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said that was the kind of mistake that leads players to bounce around teams.
“That’s often why you see great players move from team to team,” Tomlin said. “Don’t want that to happen to Antonio Brown.”
But that’s only part of the reason for the speculation. The rest came as a result of a report saying Brown is too concerned about his personal stats over the team.
NFL Media’s Aditi Kinkhabwala reported that Brown was pouting that the Steelers’ first touchdown against the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game was scored by DeAngelo Williams and not him.
Some are even questioning the accuracy of the report after viewing the video:
So not only was Antonio Brown not open in the back of the end zone but he appears to celebrate DeAngelo Williams TD, no "pouting" pic.twitter.com/RQVBUmcD5J
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) January 24, 2017
Whether or not the story is factually correct is not the point; the point is that the story was leaked, and some think that it came out for a reason — the Steelers are trying to tell the league they are unhappy with Brown and would entertain trade offers.
Brown is quite the playmaker. He has four straight 1,000-yard seasons and has scored 47 touchdowns since 2013, including passing, receiving and special teams.
