Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown apparently now wants a new deal even though he has three years left on his old one and that could result in a lengthy standoff between the two sides. Even though this news comes less than two weeks before the 2015 NFL Draft, don’t expect the Steelers to alter their draft plans because of it.
The dominant narrative after the news about Brown broke on Monday seems to be that the Steelers will select a wide receiver in the first few rounds of the draft because of the uncertainty surrounding their top pass-catcher. While the team could very well wind up drafting a wide receiver in the early rounds, I doubt seriously that Brown’s current situation will be the reason for it happening.
The Steelers are going about their pre-draft business just as they always have and that means they’re doing their due diligence on several players regardless of the position that they play. That due diligence has included them bringing in Arizona State’s Jaelen Strong, Central Florida’s Breshad Perriman and Auburn’s Sammie Coates for pre-draft visits as they continue to ready their draft board for Chicago. You shouldn’t read anything into those visits, however, as the three were likely scheduled to come to Pittsburgh several weeks ago.
You see, the draft and Brown’s contract situation are mutually exclusive and you shouldn’t let anyone convince you otherwise. If the Steelers wind up drafting a wide receiver early it will be because the stacked draft board dictated it, not Brown.
