Former Pittsburgh Steelers WR Antonio Brown ran himself out of town with a trade request — and his behavior leading up to it — following the 2018 season. Dealt to the then-Oakland Raiders for a third-round pick that turned into Diontae Johnson, Brown explained during an appearance on Cam Capone News why he requested a trade.
“I just felt like at some point in your career, you want to win a Super Bowl,” he said. “And for me, I was just trying to put myself in the best scenario to accomplish [that]. And I did.”
Brown was then asked if he didn’t think it could happen in Pittsburgh.
“Yeah, it wasn’t,” he said.
Of course, with Brown’s antics in Pittsburgh, including causing issues at practice and getting de-activated for the team’s 2018 regular-season finale, it wasn’t easy to find a trade partner, even with his immense talent. So, he went to the Raiders, coming off a 4-12 season. Brown might have realized that his ultimate goal to win a Super Bowl wasn’t going to happen with them, and he quickly forced his way out of town after hurting his feet in a cryotherapy chamber, posting team information on social media and publicly feuding with Raiders GM Mike Mayock. He said he told Mark Davis he didn’t want to be a Raider.
“I don’t want to be a Raider. I want to be a winner,” Brown said he told Davis, and that’s what he claims led to his release.
After getting released by the Raiders, signed with the Patriots and got suspended, and ended his career with the Buccaneers where he finally did get his ring in 2021.
Brown was on record saying that he thought Pittsburgh’s Super Bowl window was closing ahead of the 2018 season, and after missing the playoffs in 2018, Brown clearly thought he wasn’t going to win a ring with the Steelers. But things weren’t as simple with that as his off-the-field antics became more of a storyline than his play on the field, something that continued even after being traded. Brown lasted just three more seasons in the league after being traded by the Steelers, and after catching 837 balls for 11,207 yards and 74 touchdowns in nine seasons with the Steelers, Brown finished the rest of his career with just 91 receptions for 1,084 yards and nine touchdowns.
If he stayed in Pittsburgh, the team’s window might have been closing, with Ben Roethlisberger aging and Le’Veon Bell leaving the team. But he certainly would’ve had a better chance to win in Pittsburgh than with the Raiders, and I think he quickly realized that it wouldn’t have worked in Oakland, hence forcing the off-the-field drama.
Given that Brown was able to successfully finish his career and maneuver his way to Tampa Bay and a Super Bowl victory, his antics in Oakland may have been more calculated than they appeared if his goal was really to win a ring. Either way, his chapter in Pittsburgh closed, and the team has struggled to reach the offensive success of the Killer B’s era since.
