Antonio Brown watch is beginning to become the golden age of drama. Jerry Rice weighed in on how the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver wants out of Pittsburgh and into the Bay Area, and now Terrell Owens is joining into the mix.
Owens was a guest on Pro Football Talk’s PFTPM podcast and called himself “somewhat of a mentor” to Brown. According to Owens, he and Brown had been engaging in conversations over the course of the year and Owens says Brown wants out:
“I’ve talked with Antonio Bown throughout the course of year,” Owens said on Friday’s #PFTPM podcast. “And I’ve kind of known some of what has been going on. He’s leaned on me for advice, as somewhat of a mentor, so to speak. . . . I think with him, I think it’s a fresh start to go elsewhere and part ways with the organization and with some of the things than he and Ben have been confronted with.”
There have been parallels drawn to when Owens wanted out of San Francisco or to how Brown wants out of Pittsburgh. If you don’t remember how the Owens-49ers incident went down all you need to know it was an absolute mess on all fronts involving returned draft picks, missed deadlines, and requests for arbitration. The biggest argument was if the 49ers held Owens’ rights or if he would be a free agent at the end of the 2003-2004 season. Owens, having been deeply submerged in such a debacle himself, can council Brown on what to expect if things were to really get ugly—if they haven’t already.
As far as Pittsburgh is concerned, they are losing leverage. They’ve said they don’t see Brown on the roster for 2019, and are open to trade offers. The problem is, they are looking for the steep cost of only a first round pick and no rumors have percolated. There can’t be a trade done until the new league year, but negotiations and handshake agreements beforehand aren’t anything we haven’t seen before—the Alex Smith trade was one such deal. Scuttlebutt is a valuable thing and nothing concrete behind “interest” has been talked about.
The podcast is worth a listen, but the one thing to take from it is the consistent destination we’ve all been hearing, be it by photoshopped jerseys, cryptic tweets, or straight trolling:
“I talked to him on a couple of occasions, and I’m not hear to air anybody’s messages or . . . conversations, but he’s asked me how the Bay Area was on several occasions,” Owens said.
This is far from over. It’s the golden age of drama after all.