A blockbuster trade for disgruntled wide receiver Antonio Brown fell apart almost immediately after it was first reported late Thursday night, and now we know what happened to the deal that looked to send Brown from the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Buffalo Bills.
Word broke Thursday night that Brown would go to Buffalo, but that was soon dismissed as “fake news” by Brown in the Instagram comment section of an NFL post. Shortly thereafter, multiple reports deemed the move unlikely and said that the deal had fallen apart. By Friday morning, that indeed appeared to be the case.
Buffalo has spoken to Pittsburgh about a potential trade for WR Antonio Brown, as have a handful of other teams. Those talks occurred only in recent days. A source this morning called a Brown-to-Buffalo trade “unlikely.” Not out of the question but, at this time, “unlikely.”
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 8, 2019
The Bills posted a statement Friday morning that indicated they had tried to trade for Brown but now, well, they are done trying.
A statement from GM Brandon Beane. pic.twitter.com/GK8wMqFTCA
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) March 8, 2019
So what happened, and why did a deal appear to be imminent and then fall apart right away? The first report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter indicated that a Bills trade for Brown was “dead” as early as Wednesday.
Buffalo has spoken to Pittsburgh about a potential trade for WR Antonio Brown, as have a handful of other teams. Those talks occurred only in recent days. A source this morning called a Brown-to-Buffalo trade “unlikely.” Not out of the question but, at this time, “unlikely.”
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 8, 2019
Another source on a potential Antonio Brown-to-Buffalo trade said it will not happen. “I don't think the Bills trade was ever close to happening,” said one source involved in those talks. Steelers snd Bills briefly talked but “this is an old story. It was dead on Wednesday.”
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 8, 2019
Others reported similar stories, but the biggest of those reports was that Brown simply wasn’t going to show up to Buffalo if he were traded there. Brown wants a long-term contract from a team he gets traded to, and it was reported that he did not want to sign that in Buffalo and may have even threatened to retire if he were to be moved to the Bills.
Any chance of an Antonio Brown trade to the Bills tell apart because the player would not commit to going to Buffalo. By the time the report came out the deal was dead
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) March 8, 2019
Steelers and Bills had”positive” trade talks last night, but deal fell apart because Antonio Brown nixed going to Buffalo, per source.
— Gerry Dulac (@gerrydulac) March 8, 2019
One could speculate that the move got out earlier than intended and once it was clear Brown wouldn’t go to Buffalo, the Bills did the best they could to save face. But it’s clear that despite the Bills claiming they walked away from a trade for the best wideout in the game, it doesn’t seem like they had all that much power over the deal in the end. Brown didn’t want to go to Buffalo, whether because of the current roster or, well, the weather, and now everyone else continues to wait as the Steelers find a trade partner that works for all parties.
