Indianapolis, IN (92.3 The Fan) – Browns fans have been fantasizing about a scenario in which Antonio Brown winds up in Cleveland, no matter how unrealistic that may be.
Maybe it is not as far-fetched as once thought.
Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert did not rule out the possibility of dealing Brown to a divisional rival Wednesday morning when asked at the NFL Combine, however he made it clear the price will be the steepest.
“Ideally you want to trade him to somebody you will never play, which you can’t know,” Colbert said. “The less you would have to play against him the better, but if a team comes through with the best compensation, we have to balance that out.
“OK, we have to play him twice a year, but we are going to get the best compensation, so then it’s our job to do the better job with the compensation. You have to weigh all that into the discussions. We haven’t eliminated anybody.”
Translation: the Browns, Ravens or Bengals would have to absolutely blow his mind with an offer, presumably including multiple high draft picks.
Brown, who has three years and $37 million remaining on his contract but none of it guaranteed, is on the market with his relationship with the team – and namely quarterback Ben Roethlisberger – seemingly beyond repair at this point.
But Colbert won’t trade the seven-time Pro Bowl receiver just for the sake of trading him.
“We’ve acknowledged we are looking into the possibility of trading him. What we also acknowledged is that we will only make a trade if it benefits the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Colbert said. “He knows that, his representation knows that, it has clearly been explained and we are willing to take a look, and if there is something that can be done to benefit both sides, then great. If not then we’ll deal with that when we get there.”
Over the last few weeks on social media Brown has taken a torch to the bridge, which seems beyond repair thanks to a multitude of tweets and videos.
Brown’s situation, combined with the Le'Veon Bell saga, have helped the Steelers supplant the Browns as the drama kings of the division.
Colbert takes exception to the notion that the Steelers have turned into a raging dumpster fire.
“I really don’t agree with the perception that there is huge drama within the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room,” Colbert said. “Again, Coach Tomlin treats our players like men, he gives them the opportunity to be a man, and he tries to grow them not only as professional football players but as fathers, brothers, just as men. So really, I have complete disagreement with the perception of our locker room as anything but very functional.”
Should the Steelers trade Brown, they would take a $22 million cap hit, which Colbert is bracing for.
“Antonio Brown is one of the best players in the National Football League,” Colbert said. “We’d like to have him on our team so if you lose a player like that, if you decide to take a player like that off your team, you’d best have the compensation that will justify removing that player. And that would be a significant compensation either in the form of a draft pick or picks, or a player and picks, just so you can try to balance off the loss of a player like that.”
