Could Antonio Brown’s crazy journey end right back where it started?
Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, believes his client would like to continue his NFL career despite threatening retirement amid one of his many social media meltdowns. The question is whether any team would take a chance on the controversial wide receiver given his unceremonious exits from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders and New England Patriots and the troubling off-the-field allegations that continue to hang over his head.
Stephen A. Smith can’t say for sure which teams might be willing to roll the dice, but he offered an outside-the-box idea for which franchise should consider signing Brown: the Steelers.
That’s right, Smith wonders whether Pittsburgh represents the best possible destination for Brown, who spent his first nine seasons with the Steelers before a falling-out with franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger ultimately opened the door for a trade to the Raiders back in March. After all, Brown produced at an amazing level for Pittsburgh, so perhaps a reunion (and a little remorse) finally could put AB on the straight and narrow.
“Obviously, it would take an incredible level of contrition. To be apologetic about all the nonsense that you engaged in, all the things that you put people through,” Smith said on Friday’s episode of “First Take” on ESPN. “It wasn’t like he didn’t produce while he was doing that … The brother was a monster (on the field) producing for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“What he did in terms of his behavior, to me, was unconscionable. And that’s before you even get into the legal nonsense that he’s got himself involved in. But if he sat up there and really acknowledged, sincerely, how wrong he was to Mike Tomlin, to Big Ben Roethlisberger, to the city of Pittsburgh, I think the city of Pittsburgh more than anybody else would embrace that kind of second chance for him. Because believe it or not, that’s the one place he owes.
“When you look at what he did with the Pittsburgh Steelers, despite his level of production, the problems he caused, he owes them, and I think the city knows it. And if he came back with the attitude ‘I want to pay them back’ — obviously he’ll never do it; it ain’t in him — but I’m saying if he were to do something like that, that would be an ideal situation for him.”
Smith’s colleague, Max Kellerman, doesn’t see Pittsburgh as a viable destination for Brown, especially since Roethlisberger (who’s out for the season after undergoing elbow surgery)Â and the Steelers have come out looking good in wake of the receiver’s rocky departure and subsequent drama. Instead, Kellerman pointed to the Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles as potential landing spots, for various reasons.
This brought Smith down a path where he floated one other team: the Dallas Cowboys.
“He likes the shine, he likes the publicity, while at the same time allowing his play to do the talking, where he can sit up there and play around on social media,” Smith said. “Doesn’t have to do much else to get publicity and to get hype for what he brings to the table. The Dallas Cowboys are obviously it.”
“What market seems most forgivable for those who transgress? I would tell you it’s the Dallas Cowboys market,” Smith added. “I mean, do I need to count the ways? The only franchise in the NFL that consistently has eligibility issues on a pro level, the only franchise in the NFL that has a player that got arrested for stealing a pair of drawers and cologne early in the day.”
Well, AB on either the Steelers or Cowboys sure would be entertaining, if nothing else. Then again, who knows how long either situation would last before the next problem crops up?
