Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown talked to the media Sunday at the conclusion of the team’s first padded practice of 2016 and specifically about his contract situation.
Brown, who still has two years left on his current contract, reportedly told the media that holding out was never an option for him and that his agent Drew Rosenhaus is currently in talks with the Rooney family concerning a new or restructured contract.
“I can’t really fight what the rules are,” Brown said, according to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “You have to take care of your guys. If a guy under performs, you get rid of him. If a guy overperforms, you take care of him.”
As we have speculated all offseason, the Steelers might decide to pay Brown some of his 2017 money this year as he’s unlikely to receive an extension. This is what they did last August as they paid him $2 million of the base salary he was originally scheduled to earn this year.
Brown is certainly going about all of this the right way and we’ll have to wait and see how the Steelers ultimately decide to deal with him in the coming weeks. Currently, Brown is scheduled to earn $6.25 million in 2016 and $8.71 million in 2017. Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert has said several times over the course of the last year that the organization expects Brown to honor his contract and that quarterbacks are the only ones who receive new deals with two years remaining on their old one.
it might take a few weeks, but the Steelers really need to find away to give Brown more money this season. That process might ultimately come after they get guard David DeCastro signed to a new long term contract as that should result in additional salary cap space being created.
http://www.steelers.com/videos/videos/Brown-Im-focused-on-the-season/
