Antonio Brown would like to see the Antonio Brown era in Pittsburgh come to an end. The Steelers' mercurial (and elite) wide receiver went public with his desire to play elsewhere on Tuesday, sending out a tweet that stated it is "time to move on and forward" while thanking Steelers fans for their nine years of support.
Thank you SteelerNation for a big 9 years...time to move on and forward..........✌🏽 #NewDemands pic.twitter.com/fbIoFNdqK4
— Antonio Brown (@AB84) February 12, 2019
If you play the video on that tweet you'll notice that it's a series of Brown's highlights scored to Lil Uzi Vert's "Now I Do What I Want," which was previously the soundtrack of a Russell Westbrook commercial that came out after the Oklahoma City Thunder star's former teammate Kevin Durant left for the Golden State Warriors amid rumors that he no longer wanted to play alongside Westbrook. (Draw whatever parallels you'd like in this situation.)
CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora has been reporting for weeks that Brown wants out of Pittsburgh, and Brown has not exactly been putting much effort into hiding that desire.
Brown has three years left on the four-year, $68 million contract extension he signed with Pittsburgh, and the Steelers would see very little cap savings (around $1 million) if they trade him prior to June 1. If they do so after June 1 they would cut his 2019 cap bit essentially in half (from $22 million to $12 million) but would also carry around $10 million in dead money for 2020. The team is reportedly seeking a first-round pick and then some in exchange for his services, and considering he is still one of the small handful of best wide receivers in football, he should have plenty of suitors. If he leaves Pittsburgh, this could be an offseason of massive change for the Steelers, as it is widely expected that Le'Veon Bell will be playing elsewhere next season as well.