Antonio Brown went on something of a press tour over the weekend and didn’t exactly mince words. Brown appeared on HBO’s The Shop and on ESPN for an interview with Jeff Darlington.
“Damn, that’s where we at?”@AB84 dishes on the pivotal final week of the @Steelers season. #TheShopHBO pic.twitter.com/kByIuNHl2D
— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) March 2, 2019
The ESPN interview went much deeper into Brown’s discontent with the Steelers. In total, the Darlington interview runs over 43 minutes.
One of the more interesting things Brown said to Darlington regarding playing in Pittsburgh was “If they want me to play, they’re gonna play by my rules,” he said. “If not, I don’t need to play.”
First, that does somewhat indicate Brown hasn’t completely ruled out going back to Pittsburgh. However, he didn’t go into detail what his “rules” are and there appears to be no indication the Steelers would be willing to abide by those rules.
Secondly, Brown noted a couple of times that he doesn’t need to play football anymore. He referenced how independently wealthy he is and business opportunities outside of football.
It would be hard to see how Brown openly talking about walking away would help his trade value, but the wide receiver doesn’t seem at all concerned about that.
Brown also talked about his riffs with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Mike Tomlin, Steelers owner Art Rooney II, as well as Pittsburgh’s GM Kevin Colbert.
Through it all though, there does appear to be a market for him:
The three teams that have shown the most interest in wide receiver Antonio Brown to date are the Oakland Raiders, Washington Redskins and Tennessee Titans, per league sources. Thus, the battle for Brown could develop into a battle between Grudens, Jon and Jay.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 2, 2019
Last season, Brown caught 104 passes for 1,297 yards and an NFL-best 15 touchdowns despite being benched for the Steelers’ last regular season game.
