Antonio Brown wants to go west, despite the fact he no longer is a young football man.
NFL legend Jerry Rice revealed Monday during his appearance on 95.7 The Game the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver very much wants to play for the San Francisco 49ers. Rice said he confirmed as much Sunday during a FaceTime conversation with Brown.
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,” Rice said when asked whether Brown is keen on the 49ers. “He wants to come here really bad.”
Brown ended the regular season at odds with the Steelers, who benched him for their final game after he failed to attend practices and team meetings after reportedly falling out with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported the Steelers likely are to consider trade offers for the All-Pro wideout, and Rice believes the 49ers should do whatever it takes to acquire him.
“This guy, man, he’s a totally, complete team player,” Rice said. “I don’t know what happened in Pittsburgh but I know that this guy, if he comes here to San Francisco, he’s going to do everything possible to help this team to win.”
Brown, 30, caught 104 passes for 1,297 yards and an NFL-best 15 touchdown receptions in 2018. He’s set to earn $15.1 million in 2019, but his cap hit of $21.6 million will make him difficult for Pittsburgh to trade.
Nevertheless, the 49ers have over $70 million in salary cap space and are one of the few teams which could absorb Brown’s cap hit comfortably.
That makes Rice consider Brown a no-brainer of a target.
“If it was left up to me, he’d be here in a heartbeat,” Rice concluded.
