Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown just won’t stop talking and it seems like daily he’s hurting his trade value because of that,.
During his recent sit-down interview with Jeff Darlington of ESPN, Brown sounded like he’s more than willing to walk away from the NFL and thus never play another down if some of his new demands aren’t met.
“Listen, I don’t even have the play football if I don’t want, bro,” Brown told Darlington. “I don’t even need the game. You know what I’m saying? I don’t need to prove nothing to anyone. If they want to play, they’re going to play by my rules. If not, I don’t need to play.”
Brown was then asked if he still wants the game of football.
“No, I mean obviously I want the game, but I don’t need the game,” Brown said. “There’s a difference, you know what I’m saying? I don’t need to play for no one like I’m happy. You see this is paid off cash, I don’t owe no one. I’m a millionaire, bro, I’m an entrepreneur, like I don’t have to prove no one anything. You know what I mean? I never quit or missed a game ever. Check my record, they know my background. But that’s what the NFL is, it’s an organization. Organizations can create narratives and lower your value based on your position. But you can’t lower my value. I’m Antonio Brown. I come from somewhere. I stand for something. I showed you. You know what I mean?
“If someone don’t believe that, perfect, don’t call me. It’s like it’s okay. Like, I’m perfectly fine with walking away fully healthy or whatever. So if you ain’t got the demands to meet the demands, make it move. I’m not just a young player is searching for something to make a difference. I already made a difference. The Steelers probably gave me five contracts, including extensions, almost a hundred million and change. I’m $30 million up cash, like, what do we want to tell me? It don’t matter. I don’t even have to play. My Dad was great, if I retire right now, I think I’m great. So, what does that mean?”
It’s pretty much an understood now at this point that if Brown is traded to another team that he’ll want his contract redone once again and that he’ll likely want even more guaranteed money. How many teams are going to want to sign up for that and especially after what all he said during this 45 minute interview with Darlington.
Brown is indeed a great player and a generational talent and while he’s not showing any signs of slowing down, he is now on the wrong side of 30 and has only played with one other quarterback during his career.
It will be interesting to see if the Steelers can still manage to get a first-round pick for Brown at this point with less than two weeks to go until the start of the new league year. Would Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert take less than that? How many teams are even legitimately wanting Brown at this point? Three? Four? Five? There can’t be many more than that.
