Maybe it was by accident that things came undone this year. That Antonio Brown’s relationship with Ben Roethlisberger crumbled, that JuJu Smith-Schuster winning the team MVP happened to set Brown off just as this season came to a close.
If it was, then the timing was awfully fortuitous for the superstar wide receiver.
Why? As the calendar turned from 2018 to ’19, the guaranteed money on the four-year, $68 million extension Brown signed two years ago was running out; all that was left, in essence, was three team options, at $15.125 million for 2019, $11.