The Antonio Brown-to-Bills saga played out hilariously on Twitter
NFL fans who went to sleep early Thursday night were probably surprised Friday morning to see all the chatter about receiver Antonio Brown nearly being traded to the Bills.
For a while on Thursday night, it seemed a deal might be imminent. But in the wee hours of Friday, it became clear that it wasn’t going to happen.
At 4:46 a.m. on Friday*, Bills general manager Brandon Beane released this statement: “We inquired about Antonio Brown on Tuesday, and kept talks open with the Steelers. We had positive discussions. But ultimately it didn’t make sense for either side. As great a player as Antonio Brown is, we have moved on and our focus is on free agency.”
*That’s really early to be making a statement
The NFL Network first reported that the Bills and Steelers were closing in on a deal involving Brown, who has stated his desire to leave Pittsburgh. That came at around 10:15 p.m.
Thing is, Brown claimed it wasn’t true. He responded to the NFL’s Instagram post:
As NFL fans thought Brown would be going to the Bills, who haven’t won a playoff game since 1995, the jokes started on Twitter:
By about 2:30 a.m., ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the trade wasn’t going to happen and the two sides were never close to finalizing a deal:
One reason for the trade falling through? Seems all those people who joked about Brown going to the Bills were on to something. There was fear that Brown wouldn’t actually go to Buffalo.
And thus ended Brown’s era in Buffalo, which led to another spate of jokes:
The big winner from the saga? It might be Schefter, who shot down the report from Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network:
This story was originally published March 8, 2019 at 8:49 AM.
