Art Rooney II, Antonio Brown to Meet Next Week

It’s been a wild ride for the Pittsburgh Steelers off-season thus far, with more drama filled in their one month away from football than their sixteen game schedule allowed for. Antonio Brown has dominated headlines in Pittsburgh for all the wrong reasons since not appearing in the Steelers final game of the season.

On Feb. 12, Brown made an official trade request to the team just hours after he failed to appear in court for a speeding ticket. The Central Michigan product has been particularly savvy on his social media pages through the off-season, making his feelings/intentions clear for the whole world to see.

Organizations got the fans tricked

— Antonio Brown (@AB84) February 15, 2019

After a typhoon of ambiguous tweets, posts and words, this is where we find ourselves: A receiver the city of Pittsburgh once embraced as one of their own wanting out, and making it very clear along the way.

Enter: Owner of the Steelers, Art Rooney II.

Rooney remained oddly quiet in the initial reports of Brown missing the last week of the regular season, waiting until the time was just right to speak on the issues surrounding his team.

“As we sit here today, it’s hard to envision that” Rooney said on Brown being on the roster for training camp in 2019. “But there’s no sense on closing the door on anything today.”

That very door Rooney spoke about may have just been opened, as Rooney and Brown will meet sometime in the next week per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

Can things be worked out between the two? Rooney mentioned the desire to speak with Brown in his original comments, yet Brown failed to communicate with Rooney or really anybody within the Steelers organization.

How would fans react if Rooney and Brown successfully met and talked their issues out? In a poll with over 500 votes, 53% of fans said they would not want Brown back in Pittsburgh for 2019, even if Rooney/Brown settled their differences.

Details of the meeting have yet to be released, as all we know (or that has been confirmed through sources) is Brown and Rooney both plan to meet in the near future. Does Rooney plan to hash things out with Brown, or is he simply sitting Brown down to inform him he won’t be back with the team in 2019?

Unfortunately, only time will be able to answer the pressing questions surrounding the Godfather-esque meeting between Brown and Rooney. Yet if you’re rooting for progress between the team and Brown, the meeting is a big step in the right direction.