The Steelers currently don’t have many suitors for receiver Antonio Brown. And that’s apparently because the Steelers are still holding out for a first-round pick for Brown’s services.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, “several teams” are waiting for the Steelers to reduce their asking price before pursuing Brown aggressively.
It’s unclear which teams are among the “several.” But these negotiations always become, at some level, a game of poker. And it doesn’t take being the first team to call to get a deal done; all it takes is being the right team to make the right move at the right time.
The reports regarding teams that are and aren’t interested have been all over the place, and who’s to say that a team that reportedly isn’t interested won’t instantly become interested, if the Steelers begin to slash their demands? The Buffalo example proved the power that Brown has over this process; if Brown plans to continue to flex his Big Chest when teams for which he doesn’t want to play come calling the Steelers, maybe the Steelers eventually will have to take less than they want to move him to a place where he’s willing to go.
Or maybe they’ll eventually have to tell Brown, “You’ll play for us, or you’ll play for no one.”
Regardless, the clock is ticking more and more loudly, and the Steelers at some point will have a decision to make: Take what they can get, or get the message to Brown that he’ll be wearing black and gold or nothing in 2019.
