Mr. Big Checks aka Mr. Big Chest to the Raiders
- Thread starter BigBird80
- Start date
That would be awful, if true. It would be like a Pitt hiring Haywood or a Pitt
dumping Dixon for Stallings level of bad, and they should be mocked as much for allowing themselves to be skewered like that. It'll be spun differently of course, but anyone with a pulse will know. The mythical genius of the Rooneys should be shattered for good.
Why don’t we actually see what happens in this trade in which they have zero leverage before we start criticizing it?
Brown + 20 for #3? Is this what you hear?
That would be an amazing trade for the Steelers. Mayok and Gruden should be fired on the spot for making that trade. The value of trading the #3 pick is multiple #1's which is much more than big chest's value.
They have zero leverage because they misplayed this badly. They should have shut their mouths, said publicly and to AB that he's a Steeler and signed for the next 3 years. You talk trade quietly and get something done.
Instead, they let it turn into a circus and became co-ring leaders along with the disgruntled WR. Rosenhaus is now in control, not the Steelers. AB is much too stupid to orchestrate this.
I forget who's twitter I heard it on. But saw it on twitter last night. Next year's 1's might be in play also.
He is unlikely to get traded. Teams might be willing to meet his contract demands but not meet the demands and then trade draft picks as well. Steelers don't want to take a low round pick just so a guy with three years left on his deal can cash in again. So what happens my guess is he is back in pittsburgh next season and the Steelers play hardball with threatening fines and making him pay 11 million of his signing bonus
Eh, sort of.
I agree that Pittsburgh didn’t handle this whole thing perfectly. I think Art Rooney agreeing to take a photo with Brown was a particularly bad look. He definitely should not have done that.
However, I also think you are grossly overestimating how much control they would’ve had in this situation even if they had they handled it perfectly.
Antonio Brown is mentally ill and broke. There is nothing anyone could have possibly said to him that would have made him behave like a sane human being.
Not. A. Thing.
Do you think Drew Rosenhaus wants to see him making that manic Mr. Big Chest video or instructed him to say to Jeff Darlington that whoever trades for him is going to have to play by his rules? There’s not an agent in the NFL who would give their client that advice, because its batshit crazy and obviously clearly hurts his value.
And yet he said it.
He also promised on IG yesterday that he would have a big announcement for people. Do you really think his agent wants him saying that? That’s not good for his value because it makes it harder for Pittsburgh to trade him.
What’s driving down his value is that people think he is off his rocker AND they know they are going to have to give him a HUGE new contract.
His talent is beyond dispute. However, committing to someone in such an obviously perilous mental state has to give anyone tremendous pause. At a certain point you have to think to yourself, “Look, this dude is awesome. However, he’s not so much better than everyone else that he’s worth all of the bullshit that is obviously coming along with him.”
That has nothing to do with the Steelers or Tomlin or Roethisberger or Steely McBeam for that matter. This has become such a mess because of the horrifically amateurish way Brown has handled this situation really at every turn. And whenever you are as deep in crisis mode as he very obviously is, no amount of reasoning or cajoling or tough talk is going to change that.
Most guys learn this lesson in college. However some don’t learn it until after they get married and have children. Still, at the end of the day, no matter how hard you try, you can’t fix crazy.
I think the Steelers are very easy targets. That is not to say they haven’t earned their status in recent years because they very clearly have. However, that’s a separate issue than their star receiver going broke and losing his marbles at the same time and I think blaming anyone other than Brown for that is ridiculous.
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I've said from the beginning that the folks thinking there was some high pick coming here for this lunatic were about as crazy as him. There were plenty of people who thought a top 20 pick in the 1st round was possible. I never thought the Steelers had much control, but they've effectively given themselves no control.
The Steelers have enabled this stupidity. From Art Rooney's idiotic and publicized meeting with AB, to Kevin Colbert feeling the need to publicly discuss their plans and intentions. They fueled this megalomaniac and his videos and interviews.
I'm starting to wonder if Art isn't equally nuts.
The Steelers have enabled this stupidity. From Art Rooney's idiotic and publicized meeting with AB, to Kevin Colbert feeling the need to publicly discuss their plans and intentions. They fueled this megalomaniac and his videos and interviews.
I'm starting to wonder if Art isn't equally nuts.
It’s also a nobody but Brown’s fault that he was caught going 120 mph on McKnight Road...or that he was hurling furniture off his Miami high-rise that nearly killed a toddler…or that he is facing a domestic battery charge... or that he came off really terribly in a pair of interviews that were specifically designed to boost his stock.
Did LeBron James or Jeff Darlington ask him any questions at all about the aforementioned serious incidents? I don’t recall any and I watched both interviews.
I read somewhere earlier in the week that Darlington‘s agent is…you guessed it, Drew Rosenhaus. That’s a PR stunt if I’ve ever seen one and it’s egregious that he did not approach the interview as a professional journalist.
I have no idea why people are assigning equal blame here? This is not exactly a Nancy Drew mystery.
I keep seeing and reading nationally people speculating about “what the real problem is in Pittsburgh.”
Maybe it is Mike Tomlin’s fault because of how much leeway he gave Brown over the years (which definitely contributed to this crisis)?
Or maybe it’s Kevin Colbert’s fault because he disrespected him by calling him (and almost everyone else on the team) a kid?
Maybe it’s Roethlisberger’s fault because he’s not a good leader (and nobody really likes him anyway)?
D’er. What could it possibly be?
The problem is very clearly Antonio Brown! Spending any time looking for another scapegoat in this situation is a fool’s errand.
Did LeBron James or Jeff Darlington ask him any questions at all about the aforementioned serious incidents? I don’t recall any and I watched both interviews.
I read somewhere earlier in the week that Darlington‘s agent is…you guessed it, Drew Rosenhaus. That’s a PR stunt if I’ve ever seen one and it’s egregious that he did not approach the interview as a professional journalist.
I have no idea why people are assigning equal blame here? This is not exactly a Nancy Drew mystery.
I keep seeing and reading nationally people speculating about “what the real problem is in Pittsburgh.”
Maybe it is Mike Tomlin’s fault because of how much leeway he gave Brown over the years (which definitely contributed to this crisis)?
Or maybe it’s Kevin Colbert’s fault because he disrespected him by calling him (and almost everyone else on the team) a kid?
Maybe it’s Roethlisberger’s fault because he’s not a good leader (and nobody really likes him anyway)?
D’er. What could it possibly be?
The problem is very clearly Antonio Brown! Spending any time looking for another scapegoat in this situation is a fool’s errand.
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Well, I’m not sure that Art is the sharpest knife in the drawer either. As I said earlier, that photo was just a bad idea from a PR perspective.
I don’t think meeting with him was necessarily a bad idea, but taking that photo was definitely a mistake for narrative reasons.
However, meeting with him was probably a good idea because if they do have to suspend him, they can now make the case to the arbitrator that they’ve done everything they could possibly do to accommodate his trade demand, but they just can’t find a willing dance partner.
As for Colbert, I don’t know what he was supposed to do? His talented but completely insane wide receiver had already told the whole world that he demanded a trade and that he refused to play for Pittsburgh going forward. He even made it personal talking about how much he personally hated his quarterback.
How do you come back from that?
What’s the GM supposed to do? Pretend all is well and expect other people to somehow buy it? Also, would that have shut up Brown? No, nothing will shut up Brown, because that dude is lost at sea.
Pittsburgh could have talked tough with him all they wanted but he’s not going to suddenly behave because of a strong public admonishment. He would’ve acted even crazier and more immaturely than he has because he would think that he would have to a-hole his way out of town.
I think Pittsburgh went to that meeting in Miami hoping to convince Brown and his representation that their interests were now fully aligned and to shut their traps until a deal had been consummated so they could divest in a way that was most beneficial to all concerned.
However, that hasn’t worked either because Antonio Brown is bananas and he is too simple minded to understand and/or appreciate the business end of professional football.
You want to shit on your quarterback while you chop it up with LeBron James? Fine, but wait until after you’ve been traded to do it. Wait until after you have signed your big new contract before you make an ass of yourself on national television.
Seriously, you say you want out of town and you want a new contract. Pittsburgh meets with you and agrees with your assessment that the marriage is over. What is the strategy behind then going on national television – not once but twice - to then reiterate that you want a new contract and that you are demanding to be traded?
How does that benefit you or your objectives? Because I can think of many ways in which it hurts your cause.
Everyone laughs because most opposing fan bases hate the Steelers – six Super Bowl titles will do that to an organization, ask New England. Also, literally the entire sports world hates Ben Roethlisberger, so anytime someone takes a shit on him publicly people are going to eat it up.
And Brown is happy to be their court jester and air his dirty laundry - no matter how petty - because AB is not a terribly intelligent or well man.
However, I personally believe that his public comments as well as his contract demands have been the primary factors in scaring away potential suitors and driving down Pittsburgh‘s ability to trade him for anything other than pennies on the dollar.
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How the Steelers screwed it up-
When anyone with sense knew the market wasn’t there .
A 5th this year and a 3rd next
Ouch
People need fired in the Steelers organization over this.
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This may have driven a certain poster to drive off a cliff somewhere, drunk of course!
The worst of all possible situations for everyone involved, except Mr. BigChest.
Steelers huge losers, only a 5th rounder this year 3rd next, stuck with $21 million of dead money, forfeit their #1 receiver. They get paid back for dumping Martavius Bryant on the Raiders! Horrible all around.
The League also loses, because now the blueprint is there for any disgruntled nutcase under contract who wants more. Clubs who negotiate well are now penalized because the contract means nothing. Kind of like NCAA head coaches, the contract means nothing!
Raiders actually lose because they now have this jackass in their locker room.
AB the huge winner as noted above. He get EVERYTHING he wanted, and more. Unbelievable that he gets a new deal to boot!
The NFL is a looney bin!
The worst of all possible situations for everyone involved, except Mr. BigChest.
Steelers huge losers, only a 5th rounder this year 3rd next, stuck with $21 million of dead money, forfeit their #1 receiver. They get paid back for dumping Martavius Bryant on the Raiders! Horrible all around.
The League also loses, because now the blueprint is there for any disgruntled nutcase under contract who wants more. Clubs who negotiate well are now penalized because the contract means nothing. Kind of like NCAA head coaches, the contract means nothing!
Raiders actually lose because they now have this jackass in their locker room.
AB the huge winner as noted above. He get EVERYTHING he wanted, and more. Unbelievable that he gets a new deal to boot!
The NFL is a looney bin!
The $21 mil of dead cap is why people need fired
That’s insane mismanagement
Would of been a manageable $6.7mil prior to restructuring again last year
That’s insane mismanagement
Would of been a manageable $6.7mil prior to restructuring again last year
Really?
That was done before AB went totally off the reservation. He was the #1 WR in the game.
Unless they Steelers employ an infallible psychic how would they have been able to predict this unprecedented three ring circus in advance?
Teams restructure contracts all the time in the era of the cap in order to gain roster flexibility. The Steelers have been masters of that.
This fiasco is almost 100% on Brown, who orchestrated one of the greatest con jobs and legal heists in the history of sports. He wins, everyone else loses.
The Steelers are the victims of some bad luck and crazy employees.
The only reason to redo his deal is to keep him.
They lost him and the cap space this year/
Everything about this is a failure for the Steelers
