STEELERS PRESIDENT OPEN TO TRADING WR ANTONIO BROWN

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown might be on borrowed time during the offseason.

In an exclusive interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Steelers president Art Rooney II said Thursday the team would not release Brown.

Rooney, however, said Steelers will "look at all the options" on how to deal with Brown, who did not play in the regular-season finale.

The decision to trade Brown doesn’t have to be made until early March. The Steelers will look at all their options. The Steelers have made it known that they have no intentions to release Brown. Releasing Brown is not an option for the Steelers, however all other options are on the table.

Whether the situation can be reconciled and have Brown back on the team next year the Steelers is along way from that happening.

Brown made headlines after the Week 17 game when it was revealed he did not attend the team's Saturday walkthrough practice leading to the matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals and then left the game at halftime after he had been declared inactive.

The Post-Gazette points out that Brown has not taken repeated telephone calls from Rooney and head coach Mike Tomlin, who expressed disappointment over the situation during his end-of-season press conference last week.

Rooney was ask point blank if the Steelers would explore trading Brown, Rooney declined to categorize it as such.

One thing Rooney has a hard time seeing, however, is Brown being available when the Steelers open training camp in late summer.

What could ultimately prompt the Steelers to make a decision surrounds the league's new calendar year, which begins March 13. Brown, who signed a five-year extension in 2017, will earn a base salary of $12.6 million in 2019 and is due a $2.5 million roster bonus on March 17.

Brown is scheduled to count $22 million against the Steelers' salary cap in 2019, and NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport pointed out Sunday that the Steelers would save $1 million in cap space -- an estimated $22 million to keep him, $21 million cap hit to trade him -- and create a projected $15 million in savings.

The Steelers president, however, indicated that the salary-cap consequences would not have an underlying role in any decision.

The Steelers have time to take that into consideration, but, as far as the Steelers stand today, the Steelers aren’t going to let that box them in.  If the Steelers decide something has to be done, they will figure out how to deal when the time comes.

Brown's situation only adds to the headache that the Steelers endured the past season. In addition to dealing with missing the playoffs for the first time since 2013, the Steelers played the entire season without running back Le'Veon Bell, who elected to sit out after not signing his franchise tender.

Pittsburgh finished the year at 9-6-1, which included the season finale win over the Bengals without Brown.