Off-Topic » Brown seems to be banking on the team’s desire

Washington left tackle Trent Williams had a growth removed from his head earlier this offseason and posted video from another medical procedure on Thursday.The video Dwayne Haskins Jersey White , which was noted by J.P. Finlay of NBCSportsWashington.com, shows Williams in bed wearing the socks given to patients in medical facilities while two people, one of whom is in scrubs, stand by a table at the foot of the bed.Williams didn’t provide any details about what’s going on, but Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the procedure was scheduled to clean up the area around the scar from his previous surgery. It is not considered a major issue, but it’s unclear what it means for Williams’ return to the field.Williams was not at Washington’s minicamp amid dueling reports that he is unhappy about his contract and that he is unhappy about how the team handled his medical situation. Team president Bruce Allen said he spoke to Williams and knows the truth, but did not share it. As Antonio Brown tries to talk his way out of Pittsburgh, he’s also potentially talking his way out of other possible NFL cities before he even arrives. Which could set the stage for a fight between player and team that will make the Eagles vs. T.O. look like a mild dinner-table disagreement.Although Brown has largely curtailed his social-media agitation since Mr. Big Chest met with the Steelers’ Mr. Big, Brown’s comments on HBO’s coupled with his remarks to ESPN will make it harder, not easier, for the Steelers to find a trade partner. Which will make it more likely that the Steelers eventually will give Brown the “play for us or play for no one” ultimatum, based by the leverage that comes from $11.4 million in unearned signing bonus money that Brown, if he chooses not to play for the Steelers, would have to repay.Brown nevertheless seems to be confident that the Steelers will take the best trade offer, from a team he finds suitable, that’s on the table before Brown’s $2.5 million roster bonus becomes due on March 17.“Why wouldn鈥檛 they not trade me?” Brown told ESPN. “They gotta pay me $2.5 million on March 17. If I invoice you March 17, $2.5 million that you gotta pay me, would you pay it or would you get somebody else to pay it? So it鈥檚 what — pretty much what鈥檚 good for their business. . . .聽They want to start a fresh offseason with no bad blood so their team could just focus on football. No distraction from any player. So I think they鈥檒l get it done.”Although Steelers G.M. Kevin Colbert told this week that the team could pay the money and still trade Brown later Womens Bryce Love Jersey , the Steelers could pursue other strategies. They could suspend him for conduct detrimental to the team, place him on the reserve/suspended list, take the position that he’s not on the roster, and refuse to pay the money. They also could regard his comments about wanting out of Pittsburgh coupled with his remarks about not needing football as an indication that he intends to retire absent a trade, and they can place him on the reserve/retired list, forcing him to file a grievance based on the argument that he actually isn’t retired, and that he’s committed to playing for the Steelers.Or they could just pay the money and use it as added leverage to compel him to show up and play for the Steelers this year, since the $2.5 million would be added to the $11.4 million that he already has received but not earned.to turn the page on a potential distraction, and thus he’s willing to make as much of a distraction as possible in order to get the Steelers to move on, even if he resents being regarded as a distraction. Unless the planets align before March 17, with a team for which Brown is willing to play giving the Steelers what they want and giving Brown what he wants and being willing to assume the risk that a guy who says “if they wanna play, they going to play by my rules” means what he says, the Steelers will have to decide whether to pay Brown the money and keep trying to trade him or pay Brown the money and ultimately keep him, even if he doesn’t want to stay, with a plan to embrace the distraction and use the $13.9 million in unearned pay as leverage to get him to realize how good he has it and move forward.However it plays out, Brown is openly daring the Steelers to play hardball. At some point, maybe they will.