Since the end of the season, it has been unclear where things stand between Antonio Brown and the Pittsburgh Steelers. After Brown was benched in the last game of the season, reportedly due to a dispute with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, he has been absent from the team. There were some reports that the Steelers would consider trading him, but others that suggested the team hoped for a reconciliation.
Brown, however, seems to want out. He has been agitating for a move on social media, and it isn’t every day that a NFL superstar hits the trade market, so there should be some interest around the league.
That will probably include the San Francisco 49ers, who appear to be locked in a will-they-or-won’t-they relationship with Brown. Brown posted a Jerry Rice quote to his Instagram account, but strangely, the image was photoshopped to show Brown in full 49ers gear.
The quote in the photo is from a recent Jerry Rice interview on radio, in which the legendary receiver and former 49er suggested that Brown would join San Francisco this offseason. This isn’t the first time that Brown has stirred the pot on social media, either.
We’ll see how this situation resolves. The Steelers have a degree of control over this situation, in deciding whether they want to trade Brown and to whom. As we already know from Le’Veon Bell’s contract holdout last season, this is a team that can be willing to play hardball.
h/t Instagram/ab
