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As the Antonio Brown sweepstakes continue to play on, deals are coming together — and falling apart — at the same time.
The most recent deal that came together — and subsequently fell apart — was Brown's deal with the Buffalo Bills. According to Buffalo News, few stories have made more headlines than the deal that ultimately never was. The Bills, the Steelers, and Drew Rosenhaus — Brown's agent — were trying to come to terms on a deal that involved negotiating the three seasons remaining on Brown's Steelers for base salaries totaling about $39 million.
But, after investigating Brown, evaluating the trade compensation, and exploring the contract parameters for a new deal for the receiver, the Bills ultimately withdrew their bid for Antonio Brown.
And it's just as well — after all, Buffalo is basically outer Siberia in the football world, and the team has left much to be desired for years. And, when the potential trade was a trending topic on Twitter, there were way too many football fans that delighted in the schadenfreude of the situation — reveling in the fact that Brown's arrogance had finally earned him the just desserts of getting banished to a place that no player, in his right mind, wants to be.
In fact, Brown even said that if the deal would have gone through, he wouldn't have spent a single day on the field for the team. Nice.
Antonio Brown indicated he would not report to Bills if traded, according to source.
— Gerry Dulac (@gerrydulac) March 8, 2019
But the question now begs itself: should the Steelers reconsider letting Brown go?
We'd previously mentioned that there were some analysts that believed that there was a “long shot” chance that Antonio Brown and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would bury the hatchet, and not in each other's backs.
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And, according to USA Today, Brown currently holds all the proverbial cards in a potential trade deal of any kind, whether the Steelers realize it or not.
Brown was unwilling to go to Buffalo, period. Wasnt even a matter of money at that point. So the deal fell through. Steelers and Bills had stopped talking and both sides had moved on. Market for Brown is pretty bleak right now
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) March 8, 2019
Initially, it was believed that the Steelers ultimately pulled all the strings as far as Antonio Brown and his fate. Now, however, we know that's not the case.
The Steelers are now in a position where they have to ask Brown's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, about the team's he's willing to play for, and they're going to have to do their best to accommodate him.
“Brown will leave a massive amount of dead money on the Steelers' salary cap after he signed a four-year, $68 million contract last year. It's actually possible they could cut him before he's paid a roster bonus later this month and just eat all of that cap space. So, at the very least, they want something back for one of the best receivers in football. For a team that trades for the mercurial Brown, they would get him at a bargain price (although would he get a revised contract with his new team?)”
So what we're really looking at here is the sum totality of Antonio Brown and his entire career, in a nutshell: trading him is proving to be more drama than it's worth. And it's not that Brown is a bad player — to the contrary, he's one of the best wide receivers in the game — it's that he needs to get his personal affairs and mercurial temper in order. Really, would it be such a bad thing to keep Antonio Brown in the Steel City for a little while longer?
