Steelers appear open to keeping Antonio Brown
By Conor Myles
A potential repair to a damaged relationship between the Pittsburgh Steelers and star wide receiver Antonio Brown could be in the works.
The Pittsburgh Steelers appeared pretty much done with their star wide receiver, Antonio Brown, after holding him out of their regular season finale. Brown hasn’t returned any phone calls to Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin, or owner, Art Rooney, after skipping the practices and meetings leading up to the Week 17 matchup versus the Cincinnati Bengals.
Rooney himself claimed it was hard to envision Brown on the 2019 roster two weeks ago. The Steelers owner now is changing his stance quite a bit about the possibility of keeping the disgruntled receiver.
“There are a lot of factors we have to take into account on it,” Rooney said during a conference call with fans after being asked about Brown’s future with the team. “We’d have to sit down with Antonio and understand where he is and make sure he understands where we are. There is some work to do before we figure that out.”
This is very telling as the 2019 Senior Bowl is now underway and Steeler’s officials could gauge potential interest in Brown among the 31 team’s front office members. Rooney claimed there weren’t “many signs” of the receiver apologizing for his actions.
The Steelers owner’s change in tone is very telling. The team has been reportedly looking to ship Brown out of Pittsburgh for a first-round pick in the upcoming draft. The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport has heard from league executives that the team is expected to receive offers starting at a second-round pick with interest from the Denver Broncos, San Francisco 49ers and the New York Jets.
Rapoport’s report may have came to the light for the Steelers once they arrived at the Senior Bowl. The team’s center, Maurkice Pouncey, ensured the superstar receiver and the Steelers can get past their feud when he told ESPN: “Time heals everything.”
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The Steelers are willing to make things work with Brown if their asking price is not met for the troubled receiver. Rooney has made that clear to the fans of Pittsburgh today with his comments.
It’ll be interesting to see if a team does make the Steelers an offer worthy enough for the team to move on from Brown after nine seasons. Right now, Pittsburgh is open to keeping the 30-year-old receiver.