Antonio Brown apparel going for 50 percent off - 247Sports

Antonio Brown's uncertain future has led to his Steelers' merchandise ending up on a discount rack. On Saturday, Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweeted the following photo of Brown merchandise appearing on a 50 percent off discount rack at the Pittsburgh International Airport. 

Business Ain’t Boomin’ pic.twitter.com/3ysEZW9ltH

— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) January 26, 2019

Brown's offseason has had more ups and downs than any roller coaster that currently resides at Pittsburgh's own Kennywood Park. It initially looked like a parting between Brown and the Steelers was inevitable after Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin confirmed that Brown had skipped the team's final practice and essentially took himself out of playing in the team's regular season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals. Tomlin also confirmed that day that Brown had not answered his or the team's attempts to contact him following the Steelers' win over the Bengals (Brown left the game before halftime). Later that week, team president Art Rooney II told the Post-Gazette that it was "hard to envision" Brown being with the team when they opened training camp in mid July. Rooney added that, besides granting him his release, every other option with regard to Brown's future was "on the table." 

Just when it appear that Brown's departure from Pittsburgh was a foregone conclusion, things seemed to be headed in the right direction after Brown said "thank you, but not goodbye" to Steelers' fans on social media last Saturday night. Brown then congratulated his six teammates that would be taking place in Sunday's Pro Bowl game. At about the same time, Rooney appeared to soften his stance on Brown, telling members of Steelers Nation Unite that, if Brown was willing to meet with him while discussing what happened near the end of last season, he would not rule out having Brown back on the team next season. 

Brown then disrupted that good mojo, showing a photo of himself in a 49ers' uniform on Instagram on Friday. About 24 hours after Brown's post, Bouchette took his photo of Brown's Steelers' gear ending up on a discount rack, a photo similar to ones that went viral after Le'Veon Bell's jerseys ended up on discount racks after he decided to sit out the entire 2018 season. 

Look what’s on sale at DICKS pic.twitter.com/DxBdHSMfAR

— Ray Fittipaldo (@rayfitt1) November 9, 2018

While neither players' fate in Pittsburgh is officially written, it does appear that the Brown/Bell era with the Steelers has all but ended. Given the emergences of youngsters James Conner and receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, the Steelers will still have Pro Bowl players at the running back and wide receiver positions heading into the 2019 season. And with Bell and Brown off the books, Pittsburgh could use that money on strengthening their defense while having a more complete team in the years to come. 

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