Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown has a base salary of $6.25 million for the 2016 season, which puts him below receivers like Kendall Wright, Michael Floyd and others who have been less productive over recent years.
Brown’s desire for a bump in pay led to a brief absence from Steelers offseason work in 2015, but there was no replay this year as Brown worked with the team following his time on “Dancing With the Stars.” That fits with the Steelers’ expectation that he’ll honor his contract without issue, but doesn’t mean Brown has given up hope of a sweetened deal.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Brown is “hopeful and confident” that the team will address his contract before the start of the regular season. That could come by way of an extension, although Brown’s deal won’t be up until after the 2017 season, or it could come by some other arrangement that boosts Brown’s pay in 2016. That’s something the Steelers did last year by taking $2 million of his 2016 salary and moving it forward, so they could take a similar approach while leaving full extension talks for the future.
With his deal running another season, that may be the likeliest outcome but the good news for the Steelers is that Brown will be on the field while things work themselves out on the contract front.
