Antonio Brown Officially Requests Trade From Steelers

Update:

Adam Schefter reports that Antonio Brown hasn’t been traded or released by the Steelers, but he has officially requested a trade out of Pittsburgh.

• According to Ian Rapoport, Brown would like a fresh start, but the Steelers have not granted him the ability to seek out a trade. 

n Tuesday, Antonio Brown thanked Steelers’ fans on his Twitter account and added “time to move on and forward #NewDemands.”

https://twitter.com/AB84/status/1095375211749355520

Brown has been the subject of trade rumors since he was benched for Week 17’s game after an incident that occurred during practice. 

The Steelers have made it clear that they’re open to trading Brown, but no reports have said a deal is close at this point in time. Some have wondered if the two sides may ultimately be able to mend their relationship, but it looks like Brown is doubling-down on his trade demands.

Pittsburgh 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.