The Pittsburgh Steelers are out of Latrobe and back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, also referred to as the South Side Facility. We are already into the regular season, where everything is magnified and, you know, actually counts. The team is working through the highs and lows and dramas that go through a typical Steelers season.
How are the rookies performing? What about the players that the team signed in free agency? Who is missing time with injuries, and when are they going to be back? What are the coaches saying about what they are going to do this season that might be different from how it was a year ago?
These are the sorts of questions among many others that we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football has become a year-round pastime and there is always a question to be asked, though there is rarely a concrete answer, as I’ve learned in my years of doing this.
Question: Will Antonio Brown’s supposed agreement to meet with Art Rooney II make any difference in whether or not he gets traded?
On today’s episode of Pittsburgh highest-rated telenovela, la situacion de Antonio Brown, we are treated to a minor plot twist with our main character, Antonio, the spurned star, first turning away from an opportunity to reconcile but having a cambio de corazon.
The day started off with a report that Steelers owner Art Rooney II would be down in Florida and that while there he was hoping to have a face-to-face meeting with Brown, who obviously spends a lot of time there during the offseason. Brown is originally said to have declined the opportunity, but later in the day changed his mind.
The beginning of the new league year is only about four weeks away at this point as we inch closer and closer to the point of no return between Brown and the Steelers. He has pretty much already let it be known that he is committed to going elsewhere and is taking steps to force the team’s hand to deal him.
Right now, I’m not even sure if either party wants to stay together and if this isn’t just for closure. Brown has been ignoring Rooney and others for practically months at this point in spite of public pleas for him to reach out. The olive branch was extended and he just threw it on the ground.
But if there is any opportunity to salvage their working relationship, it will begin in the room when they meet. Rooney made it clear like a month ago that even for his part it would take more than a phone call to mend fences. He wants to hear Brown’s side.
He apparently will now. Will it make a difference to him? Will being listened to make a difference to Brown? I’m not counting on either case.
