The Steelers Will Pay Antonio Brown After All

So much for whatever concerns the Steelers might have had about Antonio Brown and his alleged selfishness. With a little more than a week to go until the start of free agency, Pittsburgh inked its star receiver to a contract extension that reportedly makes him the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL.

As with all NFL contracts, the deal’s true value will be revealed by the guaranteed money, and for how many years that guaranteed money is spread across the five-year max length of the contract. That info won’t be known until the deal is officially filed with the NFLPA in the next day or so. Why this matters: A.J. Green’s deal pays him an average of $15 million per season—which had been the highest AAV in the league—but only $26.75 million is fully guaranteed.

Whatever the actual terms, Brown is unquestionably one of the NFL’s best pass catchers, and the Steelers—with Ben Roethlisberger set to turn 35 on Thursday—clearly recognized that. In the end all those reports about Brown’s pouting, those worries he was too fixated on his own stats, and whatever distraction he may have caused with his postgame branded content efforts didn’t seem to matter.