‘Killer B’s’ will be broken up for good
PITTSBURGH — The triplets will be broken up Pittsburgh. For good.
Le’Veon Bell is gone and Antonio Brown is just about gone, according to Steelers general manager Kevin colbert, who met with a handful of reporters Wednesday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
Colbert ended the speculation on Bell by saying the team won’t tag him this year, which allows the running back to test the free market on March 13 and thus end their relationship at just short of seven years.
Brown, who met — along with his father — with team president Art Rooney II in a private meeting Tuesday, was joined after 30 minutes by Colbert, VP Omar Khan and Brown’s agent Drew Rosenhaus. The determination is that Brown will be shopped and, according to Colbert, “We will not be discounting [Brown] on the trade market and we certainly will not be releasing [him]. … By no means are we going to factor in anything but a move potentially being good for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Colbert explained that the meeting with Brown went this way:
“Antonio was great. In the conversations there was mutual respect. He understands the significance. I think that he also believes that there will be demand, and hopefully for this situation there’s a demand that can satisfy everybody. But again, there was no second guessing. We’re only going to do this if it benefits us.”
And if the Steelers can’t find a deal that’s suitable?
“We’ll cross that bridge when come to it,” Colbert said.
He added that wounds on the team might not be too deep for Brown to return.
“I’ve seen players change perspectives from the beginning of a game to the end of a game to the following week, let alone a season to an offseason to a new season,” Colbert said. “Peoples’ perspective, players’ perspective, coaches’ perspective, scouts’ perspective, they all change. … Right now the perspective is the best thing we can do is seek a change. And if we can, great. If we can’t, we’ll deal with that at that point. But, I don’t think any relationship is irreparable.”
Colbert said the team hadn’t been involved in any active trade talks, but the calls reportedly began coming into Pittsburgh once Colbert made the trade option official at the press conference.
Trades can officially be consummated on March 13, but on March 17 the Steelers must pay Brown a $2.5 million roster bonus. If the trade is made before the bonus is paid, the Steelers would gain approximately $500,000 in cap space, counting replacement cost.
The Steelers should have close to $17 million available in cap space as the fiscal new year begins on March 13, and Colbert said the team intends to enter the free agent market, thus the untethering of Bell.
The best hint at what the Steelers will pursue on the market?
“We need more young playmakers,” Colbert said of his defense, “especially on the back end.”
Colbert also used the opportunity to talk about Ben Roethlisberger, whom Brown has blamed on social media for his disillusionment with the team.
“Ben’s the unquestioned leader of this group,” Colbert said. “He’s the elder statesman and the Super Bowl winner. If our players were smart, they’d listen to him because he’s been there; he’s done it; he can tell them, ‘No, guys, what you’re doing is or is not good enough to do this.’
“I honestly believe that can be a burden on him more often than he may like to admit, because he has 52 kids under him, quite honestly. I want them to step up and say, ‘Hey, Ben, what do I gotta do? Can I do this better? What do we have to do to win a Super Bowl?’ I think that once you win it, you’ve got 53 guys who can say they know what it took. Right now he’s the only one, so I have no problem with him. He can call me out, and that’s fine. What he does, I totally respect because I’ve seen him too many times win games for us and come through situations. That’s why I talk about the Jacksonville game. He brought that team in [at halftime]. It was hot, it was nasty. They weren’t allowed to get water, it was that immediate, like ‘Everybody over here right now.’ And the speech he made and the challenges he made, he backed up, because he played better in that second half. He didn’t play good in the first half and he said ‘I’m the first one who needs to look in the mirror and the rest of you better, too.’ So I have absolutely no problem with him.”
Colbert commented on a few other topics:
n On kicker Chris Boswell going from Pro Bowler to one of the league’s worst kickers statistically: “We believe that he can find his way out of that and we will support him in that attempt. Does that mean he won’t have competition? Absolutely not. … There will be competition for Bos.”
n On the progress of Roethlisberger’s contract talks: “We’re right in free agency, we’re right in the draft, trying to put it all together and how it can fit, in a timely matter. We’ve stated that we want to sign Ben to an extension and have him finish his career here, so those things will continue to unfold throughout the spring.”
n On how much responsibility the team bears for Brown’s sense of entitlement: “The social-media aspect of things is really challenging us. We’ve talked about how we have to do a better job of managing these players and catching it at a young age and monitoring the different things. … You want them to grow into stars, but part of stuff that comes with stardom we have to do a better job of managing.”
Colbert also added that roster changes could be made if monetary needs arise, but at this point he expects Bud Dupree, Artie Burns and Morgan Burnett to remain with the team.