Good for him, bad for the steelers, good for us

Raiders did well (compensation wise) only having to part with a 3rd and 5th for an elite WR (though he seems awfully demanding as of late) I'm not sure on how much hes getting paid, but sure it's going to be a ton...then again he is bar none, one of top 3 WRs in all of football.

I bet Pitt is happy as well...getting rid of the internal feud and clearing something close to 22 mill of their cap...

Good for them both.

Now remind me why they traded their best young WR and wouldn't pay their best defensive player? lol

Very good for him.

So Antonio Brown pretty much got a 12 mill raise, with 30 mill of it being guaranteed...I actually thought it would be higher lol

I had no idea Brown was already 30

OH MAN ....

Off season scorecard so far ....

Browns

+ top 3 RB in the AFC ....
+ well above average passs rusher to bookend MG and a HUGE upgrade in our pass rush
- a very good gaurd ....

Stilers ....

- GREAT WR ... top 3 in football ....

HUGE HUGE HUGE LOSS and they get DIDDLY in return ...

Rats

- lose a very good LBer
- lose a key veteran presence and still decent safety ...
- put all thier eggs in a whishbone QB basket ...

WOW ... WE ARE KICKING THE OFFSEASONS ASS!!!!!

LETS GOOOOOOooooooooooo

Man .... whose having fun? ... I know i am ....

LETS GOOOOOooooooooooo ... WOOOOHOOOOOOO ... YESSSSssssss ...

A 3rd and a 5th if the report s correct .... ...

Lost Bell.

Upped JuJu to #1. Different ballgame now.

Baltimore lost starting RB and will lose another key defensive player.

HELL YEAH, BABY!!!!!!!

But Diam..........there are a couple of guys on a Giants' message board talking about how they won the trade.

Does this mean AB can give Gruden his hair back? ...or whatever that is above his lip?

Oakland eh? Things (turmoil) haven't changed all that much since the Al Davis days...

Brown got his guaranteed money, now is he a rejuvenated receiver, or did he just get this Bowe/Britt retirement contract?

j/c:

On the bright side ..... At least his cult has found a different source other than Sashi’s podcast ...

Thinking about this, I may have to reevaluate Jon Gruden.

He moved out Amari Cooper, got a 1st for him, then added Antonio Brown for a 3rd and a 5th. That's pretty darn impressive.

He’s like Andy Reid ...

ALL O .... NO D ....

Gruden was gifted a great D in TB ... thats why he won a SB ...

He just got gifted AB ... that’s not gonna help on D ..... *L* ...

It was a great move getting a top 3 WR in the game for chump change ....but the fact by the time there any good .... he’ll be long gone or a shadow of himself makes it hard to understand .... every move he made last year was to build for the future, this was a win now move ...

Ad that he played the Raiders in the Super Bowl who were coached by his replacement his OC while in Oakland who never bothered to change the offensive play call scheme. That TB was good but they also Knew every play the Raiders were going to run.

The real winners in this trade and coupled with the Bell move are the Browns, Bengals and Ravens..

Three guys on the Steelers team that made it hellish to play them were Big Ben, Bell and Brown. Now just Ben, and his career is coming to an end.

Wow a third and a fifth?

And the Giants want two firsts for Beckham?

Apparently the market for AB was not there. Because the Raiders are paying him.

I know OBJ is 4 years younger but damn AB has put up monster numbers./color]

I'm taking a wait and see on this. That damn team has teased us like this before and just reloaded with guys already on their roster. Conner and JuJu are no slouches.

i'm surrpised how this all spiraled out of control. We'll see how the Steelers do now

The fact that the Steelers took a 3rd and 5th after the Buffalo deal fell through tells me how desperate they were to get him off the roster. The Raiders just shelled out 50mil to what is possibly one of the biggest team cancers in NFL history. When AB doesn't get the yards and highlight reals in Oakland that he did in Pittsburgh there will be drama for sure. It will be very interesting to watch this play out.

I think this trade will add a week to any future lockout due to a CBA renewal.

For arguably the best WR in the league (in my opinion he is THE BEST w/Julio and OBJ slotting in behind him), this is a hell of a deal for the Raiders and AB. Oak have the $ and the draft picks to still do very well in acquiring players (assuming the draft well). AB gets the $$$ he wants and we all get to enjoy the fact that we don't have to cover him twice in a season.

AB Burned his bridges...he freaking tweeted that Big Ben was a rapist. That is the big difference. The Giants know we want OBJ as I'm sure we inquired about him. The Giants also think we are the Browns of old and think we would give 2 First Rounders...lol

Now they got Zeitler they don't have much Cap space I think after the Trade around 20 mil.

they will have to give up a lot for Barkley on his 2nd contract and they got to get another QB soon.

WR 21 mil cap space is a lot...its a position not worth it and one of the worst values. OBJ got the ball in his hands 7 times a game last year. This is what I'm talking about regarding WRs...ya need them but these big contracts are not good value.

jmho

Oh God. Please make it stop.

yikes

For the Steelers this will hurt.

Shuster benefited greatly from AB. When Shuster is number one we will see how that works out.

If I were the Giants I would sell. OBJ is not going to make them a force. They have to many holes.

Maybe they get 7 touches but they play every down. When you watch Landry he blocks downfield.

Guys like AB get major attention. Open other options.

Beckham is a great receiver but I don't watch the Giants enough to see what else Beckham does besides drawing coverage and catching balls.

No matter how one looks at this it hurts the Steelers.

The Steelers have lost Ryan Shazier, AB, and Bell.

That is major talent. You don't just replace that kind of talent overnight.

Ben is going to find out what life will be like.

He often held the ball waiting for AB to rescue the play.

Let's see how Ben fares this year?

Good points btw OBJ is a tough little dude just like Landry...both block with a lot of heart.

Posters have written that Bell is lost to the Steelers. I am curious of his exact situation.

Do the Steelers own his rights yet and are able to trade him I assume. Only asking because l I can find are "rumors" of trade and assume he burned bridges so the Steelers need to trade him or he stays a hold out.

So if I am correct, they will not keep him but can get something back on a trade.

Bell will be a free agent. The Steelers declined to tag him this year.

So he is free to go anywhere?

Yes. Probably to the Raiders. That would be my guess.

I am glad that Antonio Brown isn't on a team that plays twice a year. The Raiders got him for very little compensation (when considering his production). I don't care to comment anymore.

I was reading an ESPN article about the AB trade, and one thing that stunned me was how the Steelers get their players to sign really bad (for the player) deals. They throw back to years past, and only guarantee the signing bonus, but none of the other bonuses and/or salaries. They they wind up redoing contracts, with bigger and bigger signing bonuses ..... and it has to catch up with them sooner or later. They said that Rethlisberger re-upped with something like a $31 million signing bonus, but no other guarantees. However, are the Steelers going to cut him with that much of a potential cap hit?

In the case of AB, his remaining 3 years were basically 1 year and then 2 completely unguaranteed, with no new money coming his way. I think I am beginning to see why Bell didn't want to re-sign with the Steelers. It's all well and good to get a "huge contract" ..... but without guaranteed money, it's often just paper.

The Steelers have long been credited as being a throw back franchise, and it has often served them well ..... however, I have to wonder if they aren't going to have to catch up in contract terms, before they can't afford anyone?

Jc...

Though Bell is a very good to elite back...Steelers still have Conner and Samuels...and that's not a bad duo whatsoever.

LOL ..Just saw the episode of Tanked last week with AB and his Steeler inspired fish tank he had installed. And he called his workout room the Dawg Pound.

I have to say, I love the steelers getting owned in this trade, but I also worry.

This dude acted like an idiot, acted like a baby, and acted like a complete narcissistic nutjob, and yet he was able to get every. single. thing. he wanted.

he was traded, got more money, and got to go where he wanted. I remember when players started doing this type of thing in the NBA. I hope the NFL really squashes this type of thing.

I don't doubt if the Steelers draft a RB to go with Conner. Samuels is just serviceable

Samuels is real good .... i think he has more potential than Conner does ... he was a TE in college for most of his career I believe ... he has physical skills u can’t teach ...

Connor is good ... but IMO Samuels has a higher cieling ....

Right now, neither of them is Bell ... and thats a good thing ...

AB is one of the biggest jerks I've seen

What did he say about Juju?

He also said something a week or so ago about not listening to a guy who hasn't got paid right after JuJu said he loved playing w/Big Ben.

AB has been a total ass throughout the course of this debacle. JuJu is actually a good, solid kid.

Can’t help but root for a guy like that...

...to drop off the face of the Earth.

Honestly, I have no idea what the flip AB is even trying to say.

I get that AB forced his way out of Pittsburgh because his "guaranteed money" was gone and that he wanted more money---especially the guaranteed money.

However, once he got out of town..........he should have stopped w/the bashing of his former team. He should have said stuff that made him look more contrite. I'm not saying he should have kissed their asses, but he could have said that he could have handled things better and that he is thankful to the Steelers organization, Mike Tomlin, etc. The NFL is a tough business, especially for minority coaches. He didn't do his "brother" any favors w/all of that drama. He should have manned up just a bit.

I am not a fan of selfish players who throw shade at other people that could potentially cost their victims money.

Shoulda, shoulda, shoulda... that's AB's middle name... at least when he's not on the field. Dude is a legitimate basket case.

I think the shot was intended more at the Steelers than at Juju. Juju just kind of got caught in the crossfire.

One receiver had 15 receiving TDs, the other had 7. Calling the one with 7 the team's MVP seems a bit disingenuous.

Juju did have more yards, but AB would seem to have been the player other teams were more worried about most of the time.

Not to say taking it out on Juju was the right thing to do. The Steelers trying to sweep what he had done under the rug probably made him PO'ed, though. AB is kind of a narcissist. He has a slight point, though. He had more impact, and he didn't fumble away the ball in the game that knocked them out of the playoffs like the alleged MVP.

Juju could very well be their MVP moving forward. To say he was it last year? Kind of feels like the Steelers were trying to poke AB.

I think you are mistaken. The tweet about JuJu's fumble that cost the Steelers a game was a clear shot at the latter. So were the comments to not listen to the guy who hasn't been paid yet. That is JuJu.

AB is an ass!

Agreed with the last part.

The shot definitely hit Juju, I just think he was more incredulous that the Steelers didn't name him the MVP (there goes the narcissism). His intention was to say the Steelers were blind for naming Juju over him. Juju is just the kid taking flak in the middle of the messy divorce. (The Steelers probably put him up to commenting on AB as part of their "argument" in the court of public opinion or at least let him get caught in between the two sides)

AB is definitely a mess off the field. But he basically scored a TD every game he played in last year. Juju is good. I'm not sure he's on that level yet.

AB definitely could have gone about it better. The Steelers kind of put Juju in the middle, though.

I know they're trying to move forward and put AB in the rear view, so naming him the MVP would be an unpleasant reminder. Naming his "underling," though?

I can see trying to make Juju the face of the franchise, too. He seems a likeable guy. They should know by now that AB has no chill, though.

AB is one of the top 3 WRs in the NFL in my--and many other's --opinion.

However, more goes into being a team's MVP than talent. JuJu is a great teammate and AB wasn't. I'm sure the players intended to send a message when they voted on the team's MVP.

Apparently, one of those things is spite. Not that I can blame them. AB isn't particularly likeable.

I guess MVP has become more and more of a popularity contest all over the place. It shouldn't surprise me here. (And doesn't really.) AB's response probably shouldn't surprise anyone, either, particularly if sending a message was part of the team's intent.

I wonder if naming Juju MVP gives him any leverage in contract negotiations. The V is for Valuable.

Is this how the dynasty dies?

I like your response but I don't get this paragraph:



Football is a team game. Having a player who cares more about himself than the team is not conducive to winning. There are plenty of selfish players in the league. AB was always kind of a diva, but he worked his ass off and produced huge numbers. He's a great WR. One of the best ever. But man, when you purposely create dissension w/in the ranks, you are not the team's MVP. And that is why he wsn't the MVP last year. I bet he might have been the MVP in the past.

I'm fine with AB not being the MVP. I agree with what you are saying. Juju just somewhat feels like he was picked because he's the opposite of AB character-wise rather than what he did on the field. I'm not sure who I would name MVP, but half the TDs and a fumble in the biggest game would make me a bit hesitant.

Struggling to find an MVP for the Steelers is actually kind of nice as a Browns fan.

As for the 2nd half of what I said. AB thinking AB should have been the MVP is pretty in character, I think.

Debating the merits of a Steelers team MVP on a Browns message board, just something you don't see everyday.

Imagine having just paid this guy a crapton of money to be the faced of your franchise.

I think they're hoping to draft the face of the franchise. Too bad for Gruden, it sounds like Arizona is gonna draft him 1st.

j/c

This is the moment I lost any respect for Antonio Brown.

Funny I never had any for him to begin with.

BTW AB if your so vain you read other teams message boards bring it on bro.

That's my read on the guy as well. Probably has some mental issues, doubt we've heard the last from him.

"Call me Mr. Big Chest!"

Looks like AB is making the bad kind of friends over his recent comments...

Reid (Houston DB)
LINK to his Tweet (it's not coming up for some reason)

"I respect his game but I can’t wait to smash this dude 😂 No need for that"


And

Weddle (BMore DB)

There is something about the position of WR that brings out the "[censored]" in guys. There are a lot of "Me, me, me." WR's out there too.

LOL.......there are. It's what makes me respect guys like Fitz and Julio even more.

And Dep...........AB is off the charts. I get going after guaranteed money even if I would never lower myself to such despicable behavior. But, guys chase money so I get it. But man, you got what you wanted, so shut your damn mouth. He is still throwing his former teammates and coaches under the bus. I think guys around the league are taking notice of what a ......... AB is.

Very talented receiver, horrible person. He really started getting unhinged in the last year with the furniture throwing incident, driving 100 mph down McKnight Road (a very busy road in Pittsburgh). I mean this sincerely, I wonder if he has had one too many concussions which changed his behavior.

The Steelers will miss his receiving talents, but I think they are way better off without him. JuJu will pick up some of the slack, and other receivers will pick up the rest. I'm glad Antonio is the Raiders' problem now.

Agreed, I think we got one of the good one's in VG as well. If I'm an NFL GM, I'm sweatin every time I'm drafting the #1 WR.

Nice post, sk8. And also, screw the Steelers.

This demonstrates the difference between OBJ and Brown.

Brown acts like a baby demanding a trade, gets it and continue to rag on his former team and teammates.

OBJ never asked for a trade, but when it happened, yeahhe was understandably upset,, I get that. But still, after taking some time to reflect, he pulled himself together, came to Cleveland on the first day he could, and never, not that I've heard, trashed the Giants or any of his former teammates.

That's the difference between a man and a boy.

Holy Toledo! This isn't working out like AB thought it would.

My impression of Brown was that he felt upstaged by Leveon Bell last year, and Bell was not even on the team. Brown was not the primary story coming out of Pittsburgh. It had always been Brown/Bell, or Bell/Brown. Last year it was all Bell, all the time, no matter what Brown did, the story was Bell is not here.

Brown is a diva. This is his way of showing Pittsburgh, the team, the organisation, the city, the fans, "Look at me. I am and should have been the story. I am the Greatest."

jmho

Antonio felt upstaged by Juju because Juju won the Steelers MVP of the year.

He has felt upstaged by everyone. If it is not about him, he's unhappy.

Wow...actually as much as I hate to say so the Steelers made a good deal. His peak has probably been reached and he will go downhill from here. But I didn't know he was such a Scumbag to his team. Some of the things he did was terrible.
Wish he stayed with the Steelers...

I think for the locker room yes, but I don't know how they will fare on the field without him. . . . I mean look at the last game against Cincy - they barely won the game (which was essentially a playoff game), and looked horrible on offense. Ju-Ju was nowhere to be found, and ben was lost. Against a pee poor Cincy team.

Other than Ju-Ju now, I don't see much talent at the WR position to be honest. I mean Funchess was solid pick up, but the dude is just you ordinary NFL WR. Hes nothing special. And I am not certain Ju Ju can take that next step after he is blanketed with Double Teams going forward.

I would welcome the fact that JuJu was where their highest bar is set. Real up for us this year. Ben seems to fall off, but always has had some extra for us. I badly want to play these
guys, as opposed to playing them badly, which often happened in the past. Pulling Tomlin's teeth perhaps.

Donte Montcrief will help out but he's no Antonio Brown. Hopefully James Washington picks it up and has a great year.

Funchess signed with Indy. Moncrief signed with Steelers.

Apologies for bumping an older post, but this post is a work of art.

It's almost like Dorsey is playing Madden but also got to mess with the Ravens and Steelers rosters.

I think it's perfectly objective to say that these teams got worse. Perhaps even a lot worse.

The Steelers will be fine, but this episode has undoubtedly fractured their locker room. These little things chip away at the armour and crack with pressure. If their season starts slow, I think it's lights for Pittsburgh.

It also doesn't help that their better talent is aging and I'm not sure how much Roethlisberger has left in the tank. He's been far more hurt and out of shape than Brady and Brees... and he's rolling his way towards 38.

The Ravens are just weird. They had core talent and just let them walk. They made some decent moves, but I'm not sold that they didn't step backwards.

Don't forget the Rats lost Ozzie Newsome. In my opinion, he's been one of the best drafting GMs for nearly 20 years. Always seemed to find a way to make the team better. His understudy got the nod, but you just can't replace Ozzie Newsome. So we're seeing a GM let talent walk so he can build his team the way he wants - but I think it would be foolish to not expect some form of decline in their ability to add talent.

And this is happening at a time in which the Browns, at least on paper, have one of the strongest rosters in the league.

It's an incredible time, and the players seem to understand what kind of opportunity they have ahead of them.

That's right, my bad. Tells you how big a signing it was for them...….lol

I also think Ju-Ju is better than people seem to be giving him credit for... I also think Washington will have a good season for them.


As weird as it may sound, I think the steelers could be a sleeper team this year.

I feel like the Ravens are on like a mini-rebuild. I don't know that I would say a step back, but I think it's just different. It all rides with the one at QB they entrusted their franchise with...


The Bengals who are rarely mentioned, I think could also surprise. I think there could be a battle with all 4 teams til the final game for the division.

I liked Ju-Ju coming out of USC and cringed when the Steelers picked him.

Still the Steelers are on the decline. Their defense is winding down. There Offense still rides on the aging Big Ben who could be playing his last games as physically his body has taken its toll.

They got a solid OL but their running game will wane as will their passing game. These are not the Steelers of the past and I mean any of the past as they have not replaced their vets wisely. They will start to get bad and then will be around 3 years in their comeback and that would be if they do everything right. Took them quite a while to get lucky and nab Big Ben. And their defense just is not that strong to make the difference now.

The only thing in their favor, when the time turns on them...they will be picking early and if they get lucky will get a Franchise QB to build a team around.

As we know that is not such an easy task.

As much as I hate the Steelers, that is a well run organization. Every year, it seems, people proclaim their demise, and every year they prove their detractors wrong. The predictions are usually based on the decline of aging stars. But they draft well, and while established stars fade, new players emerge. They still have a great OL, they have Schuster, Washington, Connor, Watts, Dupree, and Heyward coming into their own. Sure, they lost Brown and Bell, but they still have good, young players.

The one real concern they have is at QB. Ben is getting old, and they don't appear to have an answer behind him.

This is a good point on the Steelers. I've been expecting them to take a step backwards for about three years now.

But, frankly, they already did take a step backwards last year.

They were a 9-6-1 team who lost four of their last six games. Those two wins were a 17-10 win over New England following an uncharacteristically poor game from Brady and a 16-13 win over the Bengals in the final game of the season - with everything to play for while the Bengals had nothing to play for.

And they narrowly beat Jacksonville in week 11 (20-16) so they're damn lucky they didn't finish the season 2-5. Jacksonville had a 16-0 lead going in to the 4th quarter - the offense couldn't get a first down as Blake Bortles was, well, Blake Bortles. Antonio Brown was dominant (Including a 76 yard TD to get them on the board) and they got a lucky facemask call to give them a final shot to win it with two seconds left.

Pittsburgh started the year at 7-2-1 but faded down the stretch. They were not playing good football at the end of the year.

That's not a great omen for a team who just lost their superstar receiver and their 38 year-old QB is going to have his blindside blocked by 4/5 guys in their 30s - including Ramon Foster who will start to season five months shy of turning 34.

And that's to say nothing of the Browns additions. Their OL feels a lot less scary after adding Olivier Vernon and Sheldon Richardson. Especially when Ogunbjoi, Garrett and Avery all flashed incredible talent.

None of this means Pittsburgh suck - but they're not as scary as they were.

It would be unwise to write of the Squealers.

[quote Dupree, and Heyward coming into their own][/quote]

Dupree stinks, he is not the player he was hyped as coming out. And Heyward was said to have underperformed last year. This is what I get listening to Pittsburgh radio.

Their defense after losing Shazier was not that good.

Dupree stinks, he is not the player he was hyped as coming out. And Heyward was said to have underperformed last year. This is what I get listening to Pittsburgh radio.

Their defense after losing Shazier was not that good. [/quote]

They were 6th in total defense last year. They were 10th in pass defense, 6th against the run, and 16th in scoring defense. The only area where we bettered them defensively was in takeaways.

If we had their defense last year, we probably would have made the playoffs.

They were 6th in total defense last year. They were 10th in pass defense, 6th against the run, and 16th in scoring defense. The only area where we bettered them defensively was in takeaways.

If we had their defense last year, we probably would have made the playoffs. [/quote]

They were also the most penalized defense yardage-wise last year. 1170 yards worth.

j/c:

Quoting other posts is hard.

jc

I randomly learned that Antonio Brown was on Dancing With The Stars.

So now I must laugh.

They were also the most penalized defense yardage-wise last year. 1170 yards worth. [/quote]

I understand that they were a decent defense, but the players I mentioned were nowhere near the stars that they should have been. And many steeler fans feel the same way.

We'll see how Bush adds to their D though too ... IF he's a Shazier type impact, they'll be good for a while