Not only did the Steelers produce a six-Pro Bowler team that just missed the playoffs, they are dealing with another soap opera-esque plot development involving a superstar player. Antonio Brown has been unhappy for a while, according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler, and a Steelers source informed him the situation has “gotten worse” in 2018.
Reports Brown went AWOL on the Steelers last week have now led to teammates doubting if he was legitimately injured. Some, per NFL.com’s Aditi Kinkabwala (on Twitter), are skeptical. Mike Tomlin said the Steelers ordered a Brown MRI because of knee pain but that the All-Pro wide receiver did not show up for the exam. This has ignited Brown trade rumors, and players from other teams are making pitches.
As for a trade scenario, the Steelers would eat a $21MM dead-money hit in 2019 by shipping Brown elsewhere. This cap hit could be spread over multiple years if a deal occurs after June 1. As Tom Pelissero of NFL.com points out (via Twitter), no cap ramifications exist after 2019 — barring a post-June 1 trade — but the issue of trading the best player on the team may pose a problem for Pittsburgh’s high-powered offense. The Steelers, who frequently put money on future caps via restructures, have $28MM-plus in projected 2019 cap space.
One Steelers source’s working theory about Brown’s Week 17 actions is forcing JuJu Smith-Schuster, who was voted team MVP, to act as Pittsburgh’s top receiver, per Fowler. Smith-Schuster took a major leap forward this season, his receiving average shooting up from 65.5 yards per game to 89.1 per contest. Smith Schuster’s 1,426 yards topped Brown’s total (1,297), making it the first time Brown has not led the Steelers in receiving since 2012.
Brown still made the Pro Bowl and remains an elite pass-catcher, commanding top attention from defenses and creating better matchups for his younger sidekick. Fowler adds Brown was not happy Ben Roethlisberger — the target of his latest outburst — criticized his route-running after a November loss to the Broncos.
This century, the Steelers have only made substantial long-term wide receiver commitments to Brown and Hines Ward, reaching trade agreements to unload other talented receivers and letting other capable starters walk in free agency. Brown, 31 in July, has not requested a trade. Three more seasons remaining on the four-year, $68MM extension Brown signed during the 2017 offseason. Smith-Schuster cannot be extended until after the 2019 season.
Tomlin said Drew Rosenhaus’ Sunday-morning update his client was ready to play against the Bengals — despite leaving practice and missing Saturday Steeler activities — did not go over well with him. The 12th-year Pittsburgh coach told the high-powered agent Brown playing Sunday was off the table. Tomlin did meet with Brown on Sunday morning, per Mark Kaboly of The Athletic (subscription required), but hasn’t met with him since.
Defensive end Cameron Heyward also criticized Brown’s actions, calling them “unacceptable,” while indicating the Steelers still want Brown on the team. Linemen’s responses to the Le’Veon Bell drama affected the Steelers earlier this year, and Bell is on his way to free agency.
Good for him. When teams/owners use their leverage against players, no one has an issue with it. Brown’s using his leverage here… the Steelers need him, and he has every right to breach his contract if he doesn’t feel it’s in his best interest, or anything in between.
Steelers do not NEED him… of course they want him, but don’t need.
lol “he has every right to breach his contract if he doesn’t feel it’s in his best interest”
lololol do you know what a contract is??? your statement is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what he can do. he wanted a long term contract, they gave him one, now he’s baby pouty pants…
No one has the right to breach a valid contract.
Tell that to the coaches and owners.
Teams do it all the time when they release a player with years remaining on their contract to add more cap space.
You have to remember, this is the same guy who threw a fit on the sideline because JuJu got a touchdown instead of him. Also, thats not how contracts work….
Yes, from someone who litigates contracts for a living, that’s exactly how they work. The American court system expects contracts to be breached if breach becomes profitable to the breaching party, including accounting for the penalty for breach. Contracts are not “your word, no matter what happens” they are, “this is the consideration, this is the consideration plus penalty for breach if you breach. Your choice.” That’s why punitive damages are illegal in American contract law, even for a court to award. Because you are expected to breach if breach is to your advantage.
And I don’t care what Brown whined about. This is the opposite of “the team cut you because of your behavior,” in terms of supply and demand. This is where supply and demand benefits the player, even if he is a b*it*h. He can do this because supply and demand is on his side. This is the other side of that, and rightfully so.
Bencole…I applaud you! Finally someone who knows what they are talking about other than people thinking they know what they are talking about! It drives me crazy to watch people try to act like they know everything when In fact they don’t!
And as far as your point on Brown..i couldn’t agree with you more! I’m glad to see guys like Brown and Bell standing up to these guys.
Standing up to what? What are you guys even talking about?
And don’t forget James Harrison who also provided the Steelers with pro bowl caliber play for years. The owners need to abandon an archaic culture that forces players to drink the poison kool-aid or suffer the consequences.
I wish I could stand up for $21 million when I didn’t get my way
He’s acting like a punk because he’s not getting his way… you’re over thinking this bringing up contract law. Superstar NFL players get to act like punks because the team needs them (or leverage). Nothing more, nothing less… otherwise, I agree with your explanation regarding contracts. If this episode happened with a 3rd string LB, he would be cut the next day and no one would think twice.
Thats what he meant with supply and demand. Only a few WRs as good as Brown. There are hundreds of possible 3rd string LBs
Yup
He’s acting like a punk for the same reason Trump acts like a punk.
Rich children often never adjust to being adults.
It has nothing to do with the NFL and is why you can’t compare today’s spoiled rich kids in the NFL to guys who used to play football for very little money.
He quit on his team. Enough said.
He would have played, he used his leverage toward practice and meetings. He’s so good that he can. That’s supply and demand.
You say he is so good that he can, and yet he showed up Sunday wanting to play and was basically told that in fact he wasn’t so good that he can
That isn’t supply and demand.
Stay with Law because now you’re just exposing yourself.
Supply and demand here means there is a limited supply of WR’s his caliber, and the Steelers need him. I have a law degree, but my undergrad is in economics btw…
Damn.. bencole is a savage lol
“The american court system expects contracts to be breached”
“he has every right to breach his contract”
I wonder if you struggle with the language, morality or both.
Might be a professional hazard.
I wouldn’t trust someone like you as far as I could throw you and I’d guess you’re too heavy to lift. You “might” know the law but you don’t even have a concept of integrity.
When did the owners of the Steelers use leverage on Brown? The Steelers are a model organization, exemplifying stability and consistency. Two talented bad apples go off doesn’t mean the owners, specifically the Steelers, are to blame. He signed the contract, he should stick by it and act like a professional and someone who belongs in the league as opposed to acting like an entitled millennial.
Add for Tomlin, he’s on a thin line. He needs to control that team otherwise he’s out of a job in 2020.
Every right to breach a contract? I wasn’t aware that’s how a contract operates unless that is stated in the contract. You must have a copy for yourself to read.
That is how a contract operates, and it doesn’t need a clause in it to say so, that’s how all contracts work. The reality is courts cannot enforce specific performance in labor contracts, therefore all breaches just result in the non-breaching party to receive the “benefit of the bargain,” or the value they would have received had the contract not been breached. In this case that would be the Steelers remaining money on the contract if they wanted the remainder of the contract voided. Anything more would be punitive damages and they are illegal in breach of contract cases.
The only time courts ever order specific performance is if a unique good is involved, the non-breaching party relied on the contract to their detriment, and specific performance is still possible.
And yes, in fact in law books in the U.S. they stress that parties are incentivized to break if it adds utility to the transaction, that you should breach if it is to your benefit.
*incentivized to breach
Your an idiot
You’re*
Bencole ..the guy is being paid millions of dollars to play a child’s game. He needs to shut up, go to work and enjoy the life God gave him the ability to have. Not wine and cry because … omg someone was better than me. Where is this righteous BS coming from.
Disagree. The amount of money he makes is what society values his skills at. The fact that he can get away with this shows that there is surplus value on the contract for the Steelers, that they can’t replace his skills for that money.
I find that comments like these are often made by those who have to work really hard for very little money, and they are at the mercy of their employer to tell them how to act. These people are in this position because they don’t bring enough value to society in terms of their skills to do any better, and they want guys like Antonio Brown to have the same restrictions at his job that they do. Employers dictate to most employees to some degree their actions, but the more value you bring to your company and therefore society, the less the employer can get away with it. Antonio Brown doesn’t have to live like you, he’s not the same. He brings far more value to society, and so he can do these things while you can’t.
Again, you say he can do whatever he wants and he brings so much value he gets away with it, yet he showed up Sunday thinking he would play regardless of his actions this week, and he was told to go home
I applaud Tomlin
STILL got paid though Not to go out and get in car wrecks for 40mins. So, WHO actually won?
Brown went out and bought himself a $20,000 ring with a GOAT on it. Kind of hard to beat Jerry Rice’s records from the sidelines in a fur coat. Sounds like to me like a lose lose situation to me….how about you?
Also made an appearance on that show Behind the Mask. I’m guessing he made that 20k back and then some. He still had a good week
Well, that’s true to a point. Society actually dictates what the owners make and thus what the player makes. Paying ticket prices to games, buying merchandise with their favorite team/player logo, etc… If one wants to act like Brown is, as Jesse James the tight end mentioned the Kardashians, that’s his right. It’s also the right of the Steelers to not play him against the Bengals, which they also did. Antonio Brown wants to be considered the greatest wide receiver of all time. He has to actually be ON the field for that to happen to put up stats. So he does have something to lose in this as well. I personally am not jealous of his job or his lifestyle or think he should live like me or like other “average Joe’s”. I just don’t think morally when you put pen to ink you should honor what you signed. If anything, it’s players like him that get jealous when another player at the same position makes a little more than themselves, they have to renegotiate. Just because some dummy signs someone at a ridiculous price, doesn’t mean that everybody else has to follow suit.
Owners sign pen to paper, but still cut players all the time… I don’t feel sorry for them
What leverage are they using ? The guy makes 17 million a years and is acting like a punk
Do not blame brown. Big Ben has a habit of throwing teammates under the bus every time he messes up. The Steelers Dominic error is rapidly coming to an end and he needs to get off the titanic.
Brown screwed the team over.
I don’t care if someone hurt his feelings and that isn’t an excuse.
The players hurt themselves w/ these antics. There’s no reason to sign them for longer than 2-3 years tops. They eat up cap space and then demand trades. Why should teams do anything other than franchise them, get them for 3 years or trade them.
Because they can.
The players can do this if they’re good. This is the reverse of the “teams can do what benefits them.” Players who are good enough can do what benefits them, even if it hurts your team.
And with that answer, I know the players will fold against the owners in the next contract. I agree with you, stars can don what they want.
If you’re unwilling to help your fellow teammates now, are you really going unite in contract talks? No.
AB, Ben, and Bell are/were the stars on Pit. What about the other 50m players?
To be fair, most stars aren’t as AB as. Yeah, OBJ throws fits on the sideline, but that’s when his team is playing bad, not when someone other than him gets a Tr
Exactly. They need to look at baseball where teams are finally learning that those giant deals very rarely pay off.
Players supporting other players attempts to hog huge portions of the cap as though it’s coming from the owners instead of from their teammates also makes me sick.
Once a player does get that huge deal. capping it off with attitude & insults to lower paid players is unforgivable.
Here is my dream scenario:
Jets trade for AB
Jets sign Leveon
Jets draft an o-line
please please please please please
Why would the Steelers do that? Bell is likely but forget AB. The jets will still suck regardless.
If the Steelers trade Brown no chance they’ll trade him to an AFC team, so you look at NFC teams that can take his 22M cap hit. Sea, Ari, Sf, Dal, Gb, Det, Nyg. Cards, lions and Giants probably won’t have interest, Cowboys don’t have the draft capital which leaves the Seahawks, 9ers, and Packers. I wanna see him go to Seattle but I think the Packers will make a move and get him.
Steelers won’t take a 21mil dead money hit
They’d be dumb not to if they can get a good return. Their window is closed and it’s time to rebuild. They save money against the cap this year with no future dead money if they trade him for picks and that also gets them out of the back end of his deal.
I doubt that he would get a large return. Not too many teams can absorb his contract outright, the Steelers will not take on bad money, and the NFL values draft picks way higher than other leagues. At best you’re looking at a 2nd rounder which is no where near the value that AB provides the Steelers when he’s on the field. Santonio Holmes was traded for a 6th rounder after being a Super Bowl MVP, and just recently Jarvis Landry brought back a 4th and a 7th. Amari Cooper brought a first but that’s because he is still in his early 20’s.
I don’t know anything about NFL contract structure. Why can’t Pittsburgh trade his whole remaining contract and be done with it like in baseball?
You can trade their salary without penalty but whatever is left on the signing bonus is what you get penalized for. I think
This. The Steelers make cap space to sign other stars by converting salary to signing bonus every year. This results in there being a huge dead money hit, which lowers their cap, causing the player to be basically unmoveable.
They have to account for any portion of his signing bonus that wasn’t included in previous year cap figures.
In AB’s case his cap number goes from 22 to 21 if he’s traded so they save a little. It also eliminates huge cap numbers in the future.
In a totally unrelated note, Antonio Brown was the Hippo
Makes u wonder if thats why he didnt play week 17 he was busy becoming a star
Need to read Ed Bouchette. He broke it down that’s it not really $21 in dead money:
More like $6 with the savings in AB’s salary next season—that $15 mil can be used to sign a really great WR replacement.
That’s million after each dollar amount btw
Yup receivers who stack up 1000+ yards year after year grow on trees and are available in free agency. Funny cause you hate on Odell too. Guess you hate elite players
That’s if it’s after June 1 and it is spread out over the next few years.
That is the cash portion. He gets 14 mil in cash next year. That’s real money the team saves even if the cap number stays about the same.
Is it just me or is anyone else tired of these prissy little divas always complaining about getting paid millions of dollars to play a game? Oh woe is me. These kids really need to grow up.
Probably guys like you that don’t have many options to anything else. They are no different than actors/rock stars or spoiled rich kids. Don’t sound so jealous of athletes
Can’t you read?
Being tired of lucky people who cry about people not loving them enough has nothing to do with wanting to be anything like them.
They embarrass me to be a fan or even a human sometimes.
slow decline of the steelers continues to fade into the sunset – at least Big Ben got off his rape charges
I doubt they would put up with 1300 yds and 15TD’s. Terrible production to have on your team.
Tbh I think AB is gunna try and force a trade off the Steelers , he’s not getting any younger and wants to win while he still can . Soon the Steelers are gunna have to move on from Big Ben and I don’t see AB being interested in catching passes from a developing rookie QB
Umm I think it’s pretty clear winning is not AB’s priority…
he told each and everyone of his teammates to go to hell I don’t care about you. that can make it very interesting next year in Pittsburgh if they don’t straighten this out. it’s not good
Regardless of any of this, the Jets and their Mensa candidate Jamal Adams are in huge trouble here. The George Kittle thing was approaching the line of tampering, but Adams is now doing radio interviews saying he wants Brown in New York and that the Jets will appreciate him there.
That’s the definition of tampering under NFL rules and results in huge fines and the loss of multiple #1 picks if the Steelers decide to formally complain.
Way to go Jets.
The NFL defines tampering as “Any public or private statement of interest, qualified or unqualified, in another club’s player to that player’s agent or representative, or to a member of the news media.’’
“Any interference by a member club with the employer-employee relationship of another club or any attempt by a club to impermissibly induce a person to seek employment with that club or with the NFL’’ is also a violation of the NFL’s anti-tampering policy.
Hope you weren’t counting on using that really high 1st round pick this year Jets fans, because you’re going to lose it.
The funny thing is I doubt New York would put up with AB’s antics for as long as the Steelers did
You’re right that it’s the definition of tampering, but the Jets almost certainly wouldn’t lose anything close to their first rounder because of it.
If anything, it’ll be like when Magic Johnson openly talked about other superstars and the NBA slapped him on the wrist with a fine.
You sound as ridiculous as the “Packers must release Aaron Rodgers” guy
Trade him to the 49ers kittle can’t do it by himself and marquise Goodwin needs to retire and trade garçon you have young people Dante Pettis is getting the Hang of it and Trent Taylor is a great slot reciever plus Randall Cobb is a free agent
Punctuation. Helps. Separate. Thoughts.