Brown Was Benched Sunday

[Whatever]

(01-01-2019, 07:39 PM)BengalYankee Wrote: Different era.

With the age of Free Agency and high salary players they have the leverage on coaches. 

The Steelers way of doing business is dead.  You can't strongarm players the way they have for so long in today's league.  They had issues with it this year with Bell, and it looks like they will have issues next year with Brown.  They would eat like a $14 mil cap hit if they trade him next year and they're trying to cling to their "we don't cave to player demands" cred, which is slipping after the Bell fiasco.

With Bell, you can at least see where he's coming from.  He wants to hit UFA and get the best deal he can get while he's still in his prime.  With Brown, it doesn't add up, because the Rooneys have practically fallen over themselves to back the Brinks truck up time and time again.

They really brought it on themselves, though.  They built their team around very talented players with character issues, and it's bit them.  Now, they're basically looking at a rebuild with an average coach and an aging QB.