Art Rooney II: 'Hard to envision' Antonio Brown being with Steelers for camp
Photo of Gerry Dulac
GERRY DULAC
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
gdulac@post-gazette.com
JAN 10, 2019 2:52 PM
Steelers president Art Rooney II said the team is not going to release Antonio Brown, but “all other options are on the table” following the wide receiver’s insubordinate behavior before and after the final regular-season game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
In an interview Thursday with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rooney would not come out and say the Steelers are going to trade their All-Pro receiver, but he left no doubt that is a strong possibility.
He even went so far as to say it would be “hard to envision” Brown being with the Steelers when they report to training camp in July.
“There’s not much we can do right now; we have time to make a decision,” Rooney said in his first public comments since Brown skipped out on practices and team meetings leading up to the Dec. 30 game at Heinz Field. “We’ll look at all the options. We’re not going to release him, that’s not on the table. But I will say all other options are on the table.
“Whether the situation can be reconciled and have him back on the team next year, we’re a long way away from thinking that can happen. We’re not closing the door on anything at this point.”
The Steelers cannot do anything with Brown until March 13, the first official day of the 2019 NFL season. He is due a $2.5 million roster bonus on the fifth day of the league year, or March 17, so it is likely the Steelers would make a decision by then.
Brown is scheduled to count $22,165,000 against the salary cap in 2019. If the Steelers trade him, he would still count $21,120,000 against their cap — $12.6 million salary, $7 million pro-rated signing bonus and $2.5 million roster bonus. However, the Steelers would save $15.1 million — his 2019 salary plus roster bonus — in real money.
Rooney, though, indicated Brown’s salary-cap ramifications would not play into whatever decision the team makes.
“That has to be taken into consideration, but, as I sit here today, “I’m not going to say that’s going to box us into anything,” Rooney said. “If we decide something has to be done, we’ll figure out how to deal with that.”
Nobody in official capacity with the Steelers has spoken with the seven-time Pro Bowl receiver since he left Heinz Field shortly after the Dec. 30 game against the Bengals began.
He has refused to return repeated phone calls from Rooney and coach Mike Tomlin.
Asked specifically if a trade was a possibility, Rooney said, “I’m not going to use those words. All options are on the table. We have two months to go before we can do anything. There’s no sense making the decision now. We’ll see how things play out. Maybe he decides to come talk to us some day and we learn more about where he is. We’ll see.”
Brown was not suspended by the Steelers, but he was not allowed to play against the Bengals after refusing to the practice all week, skipping team meetings and not returning phone calls from Rooney, Tomlin and some of his teammates.
Despite that, he showed up at Heinz Field expecting to play against the Bengals — a move that both surprised and angered some of his teammates. However, he was told in a private meeting with Tomlin he would be inactive for the game.
Brown also did not attend the team’s final meeting or personal evaluation session with Tomlin the day after the victory against the Bengals.
Rooney said he will talk with some of the team leaders to see how they feel about Brown returning next season.
“That’s one of the questions we have to answer — whether we can get to a point where we all feel good about him being on the roster next year. We have a way to go before we feel good about that.”
Asked if it would be hard or easy to envision Brown being at training camp in Latrobe, Rooney said, “As we sit here today, it’s hard to envision that. But there’s no sense on closing the door on anything today. There’s snow on the ground. We don’t have to make those decisions right now.”
Going back to training camp, Brown’s demeanor has been different from past years, according to a team source. Several players think this latest episode is a culmination of issues with their talented teammate, not merely because of an incident at a light Dec. 26 practice that involved Ben Roethlisberger.
During a morning walk-through, Brown became upset when Roethlisberger said he ran the wrong route and wanted to run the play again. Brown yelled an expletive at the Steelers quarterback, threw the football in anger and left the practice field, according to sources. That was the last time he took part in any type of practice with the Steelers.
“My belief is there’s more to it than an incident one day at practice,” Rooney said. “That’s one of the reasons I would have liked to talk to him about it — what it was and how it got to this point.”
Gerry Dulac:
gdulac@post-gazette.com and Twitter @gerrydulac
