Everything we know about the status of a potential Antonio Brown trade

The one thing that’s certain is Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown wishes to be traded, and the Steelers are attempting to do so. As of Friday morning, though, reports have circulated that a deal is expected to be in place Friday, some state a few teams dropped out of the running while “several teams” still remain interested, the Bills and Steelers are close to a deal, according to Ian Rapoport, and a deal isn’t close, according to Adam Schefter and Vic Carucci said a deal was “unlikely.”

Schefter doubled down on the anti-Bills deal sentiment, citing a source that suggested a trade to the Bills is so two days ago.

Another source on a potential Antonio Brown-to-Buffalo trade said it will not happen. “I don't think the Bills trade was ever close to happening,” said one source involved in those talks. Steelers snd Bills briefly talked but “this is an old story. It was dead on Wednesday.”

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 8, 2019

If you thought any aspect of the divorce of the league’s most prolific receiver this decade and the only team he’s ever played on would go smoothly, we have some oceanside property in Utah to sell you. The reality is, as Schefter described it in a pre-dawn tweet likely in response to Rapoport’s near-midnight tweet, the situation is fluid.

As talks continue on a potential Antonio Brown trade, and the situation continues to be fluid, “nothing is close” at this time, per a source. The Brown saga goes on. The Steelers has told teams that they expected, and wanted, this in place by Friday. That now looks challenging.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 8, 2019

Brown even called the report that the Bills were close to acquiring the nine-year NFL veteran “fake news,” suggesting both a deal might not be as imminent as Rapoport wrote. It seems reasonable to assume the announcement of such a deal, should it happen, would create a new level of awkward in a painful chapter of Steelers history, as fans continue to mash the F5 key on their social media platform of choice waiting for any sort of confirmation that the Steelers finally dealt perhaps the best non-quarterback position player they’ve had in the last 30 years.

Boiled down, the two largest NFL reporting outlets, ESPN and NFL Network, differ on whether a deadline is in place on a trade, whether a trade to the Bills is imminent and whether midnight or 4 a.m. is a better time to report what Brown himself deems to be incorrect information.

Out of respect to the fluidity of the situation, we’ll continue to monitor the latest, expecting anything and everything that could possibly happen, up to and including Le’Veon Bell planning to release his latest album at the start of free agency.