Pittsburgh Steelers Hope To Trade Antonio Brown Before March: Report

[Amber]

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a bunch of personnel decisions to make going into next season. There's a belief Pittsburgh have a self-imposed March deadline in place in the interest of trading wide receiver Antonio Brown. In light of the fact, Le'Veon Bell will leave in the offseason, creating cap space for a potential AB trade is almost as difficult a proposition, as the mission to restore a broken locker room.

Although it might be reasonable to picture a scenario in which AB and the Steelers come to terms, the belief around the NFL is that team officials wouldn't want to pay a $2.5 million bonus that kicks in during the offseason, especially if he doesn't figure in their plans. The other thing to consider is the recoupable portion of AB's cap hit, is reason enough to clear some space. The Steelers are also likely to receive a $14.5 million cap credit for 2019, on the basis of Le'Veon Bell's departure.

So, that leaves the Steelers with only one last box to check off, in the event of an Antonio Brown trade. ESPN is reporting that team officials are sitting down with Ben Roethlisberger to discuss the restructuring of his contract. They have every intention of sticking with Big Ben going forward, but if they shave some dollars off the bottom line, it would actually make it easier to deal AB. Considering his standing as a Steelers' legend, management would likely reward Big Ben at a later time, in a disguised manner.

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