Sports News

Antonio Brown has requested a trade

By SAM QUINN 

Antonio Brown has requested a trade from the Pittsburgh Steelers according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. According to La Canfora, Brown did not demand a trade, but told the Steelers he would prefer to be moved. His report states that "Brown has issues with Mike Tomlin and Ben Roethlisberger," and that he "feels like the coach is too aligned with the QB." This comes in the heels of reports that Brown was benched for missing practice and getting into an altercation with Roethlisberger last week.


For several reasons, a trade probably won't ever come. Brown is perhaps the best player on the Steelers and is coming off of yet another 100-catch season. The Steelers saw firsthand what life without him would be like when they squeaked past the Bengals 16-13 Sunday. They are trying to win a Super Bowl right now. They probably wouldn't be able to reach those heights without him.

And then there is the matter of his contract. The Steelers restructured Brown's deal before last season and therefore increased his cap hit significantly moving forward. He cost the Steelers less than $8 million in cap terms in 2018. That balloons to over $22 million this season, $21.2 million of which would be dead money on their cap if he were moved. They could trade him at a more palatable rate after June 1st, but by then, most teams will have filled their wide receiver holes and won't be willing to pay as much. It therefore doesn't make much sense to trade Brown under any circumstance.

Still, it would be hard to deny the signs that Brown wants out. Just last night, for instance, Kirk Larrabee of 247Sports tracked several Twitter exchanges between Brown and San Francisco 49ers players that displayed a mutual interest. While Roethlisberger has denied any involvement in the incident that kept Brown out of Sunday's game, there is enough reporting on that subject to at least suggest there is tension between the two, and the Steelers have no inclination to move their quarterback.

The team has taken a hardline stance on upset players in the past. When Martavis Bryant requested a trade during the 2017 season, the Steelers refused to honor his request during the year, only trading him at the 2018 NFL Draft, after things had cooled down. They never acquiesced to the contractual demands of Le'Veon Bell, proving that no single player will be treated as if they are above the team.

Add all of that up and a trade is probably not going to happen, regardless of what Brown wants. Eventually, he is going to have to make peace with his teammates after the disastrous end to the 2018 season. More than anything, this proves just how badly the 2018 season went, and how very far the Steelers have to go if they are going to get back into Super Bowl contention.