Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that Steelers WR Antonio Brown recently reiterated his trade demands via agent Drew Rosenhaus.
La Canfora says that a trade has long appeared to be the most likely outcome for Brown and the Steelers. However, several sources who have been in contract with owner Art Rooney II have said that ownership is in no hurry to facilitate trade talks, given that Brown could still soften his stance and express contrition for his actions.
According to La Canfora, Brown has refused to return calls from Rooney and several others in the organization and has been telling teammates for weeks that he does not intend to ever play for the team again.
La Canfora adds that Brown’s departure now seems imminent.
As for a trade, La Canfora mentions that there’s no rush and the Steelers will likely speak with interested teams at the Combine. Pittsburgh is reportedly hoping to get a first-round pick for Brown and want to deal him to an NFC team.
Although, La Canfora writes that the Steelers have no intention of granting Brown permission to pursue a trade on his own.
La Canfora confirms that the 49ers will be a team to watch, but he expects there to be “no shortage of interested teams” in Brown.
The Steelers would incur a $21 million cap hit by trading Brown, which is typically too prohibitive for a team to take on. However, reports have said Pittsburgh believes they can easily offset the cap hit.
Brown is owed a $2.5 million roster bonus on the third day of the league year, which could work as a deadline of sorts for the Steelers to trade him.
Brown, 30, is a former sixth-round pick of the Steelers back in 2010. He’s currently in the third year of his five-year, $72.71 million contract that included a $19 million signing bonus and stands to make base salaries of $12.625 million and $11.3 million over the next two years of the agreement.
Trading Brown would be really tough for the Steelers, considering that they would take a $21.12 million cap hit by moving him before June 1. After that, the dead money hit drops to $7.04 million with the remainder being carried on their 2020 salary cap.
In 2018, Brown appeared in 15 games for the Steelers and caught 104 passes for 1,297 yards and 15 touchdowns.
We’ll have more regarding Brown and the Steelers as the news is available.
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