The Steelers have two important questions they need to have answered with Antonio Brown, both of which could play a large part if the team decides to trade their All-Pro receiver:
Can he change his behavior that has morphed from disruptive to insubordinate to bizarre?
Would his teammates be willing to accept him back, even if he did promise to change?
Problem is, the Steelers might not know the true answer until after they have to make a decision on Brown. And then it would be too late.
Team owner and president Art Rooney II, who said he is “disappointed where we are with A.B.,” does not know if Brown can change his behavior.
“When you say change, people typically don’t change,” Rooney said in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “For the most part, Antonio has been a good teammate, a good player, a hard worker. Can he get back to being that kind of player and control some of the things that have gotten in the way of him being a good teammate? Who knows? We’re going to think about all that and talk about all that and see where we come out.”
The Steelers cannot do anything with their seven-time Pro Bowl receiver until at least March 13, which is the first official day of the league’s 2019 season. Brown is due a $2.5 million roster bonus on March 17, so it is likely the Steelers will make a decision on what to do with him by then.
Rooney has made it clear the Steelers are not going to release Brown.
Rooney said he will talk to several team leaders to gauge their feelings about whether the players would accept Brown back after his insubordinate behavior in the days before and after the season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals. But he is not going to go around the locker room and conduct a survey.
“I don’t want to make it sound like a poll, but certainly I would want to know what some of the leaders on the team think about it,” Rooney said. “Can he get back to being a teammate everyone can live with? That’s certainly a question.”
Drew Rosenhaus, Brown’s agent, declined via text message Friday to comment on his client.
If the Steelers trade Brown, it would do more than affect their offense. It would also alter their draft strategy because a wide receiver would almost be a certainty on the first or second round.
It would also mark the end of a dynamic nine-year period in which Brown’s production set a number of NFL records, including most receptions by a player in any three-, four- or five-year stretch.
“I’m disappointed we are where we are with A.B.,” Rooney said. “He’s been a great player for us for a lot of years. I wasn’t expecting his season to end the way it did.”
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Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com and Twitter @gerrydulac
First Published: January 11, 2019, 7:31 p.m.
