Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown (pictured above) takes the ball up the sideline in a game against the Baltimore Ravens in December 2015. Brown has recently requested to be traded from the Steelers (Courtesy of Creative Commons).
February is usually a quiet month for the NFL; teams cannot trade players and draft talk has usually not ramped up quite yet. This year has been a different story.
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown has been at the forefront of national sports media due to his request to be traded out of Pittsburgh.
The story has exploded because Brown is one of the best receivers in the game and has been in Pittsburgh his entire career. He is in the top 35 in NFL history for career receiving yards, touchdowns and receptions. Brown will only climb higher on the league leaderboards as his career continues.
Brown’s trade request has resulted in a series of different storylines involving his relationship with different Pittsburgh Steelers players, his relationship with the organization as a whole and whether or not he is in the right or wrong for wanting to leave. Outside of these possibilities, one of the most interesting threads to follow has been predictions about where Brown could be traded to.
One of the teams thought to be a possible destination for Brown has been the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo is currently third in betting odds to land him. Despite what the national media and Las Vegas thinks, Brown will not be a Buffalo Bill on week one of the 2019 regular season.
The speculation about Brown and Buffalo makes sense. The Bills have very little offensive talent and are looking to develop quarterback Josh Allen who is heading into his second NFL season.
Buffalo did not have a receiver over 1,000 yards last season and their receiving corps was led by second-year wide receiver Zay Jones and undrafted free agent pick-up wide receiver Robert Foster. Adding Antonio Brown would give the team a true No. 1 wide receiver and a deep threat to complement Allen’s ability to throw the long ball.
Brown’s skill and ability to produce clearly exist, but with all the on-field benefit comes the off-field issues.
Last season, Brown was asked to sit out of the team’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals in December 2018. Brown missed four practices and a mandatory team meeting and still expected to play.
Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin informed Brown he would not be suiting up and Brown left the stadium. Brown will bring issues like these and unnecessary drama wherever he decides to play.
There are organizations that will deal with Brown’s antics in exchange for the production he brings; Buffalo is not one of those teams.
Head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane value hard work and leadership above all else. The team’s current roster is young and has been built on those values.
Former defensive tackle Kyle Williams and current linebacker Lorenzo Alexander are excellent examples of the work ethic and leadership the front office values. Brown does not fit that mold and would not be the type of influence the team wants in the locker room.
Come September do not expect to see the name Antonio Brown on the Buffalo Bills’ roster. The national media have placed Buffalo in the running for Brown based on positional need and have not taken any other variables into consideration.
Those who follow the team understand the type of players on the roster and the type of player the front office will continue to bring in; Antonio Brown is not one of those players.