Besides the Pittsburgh Steelers big road win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, we’re sure to be talking about wide receiver Martavis Bryant reportedly requesting a trade all this week. Sunday evening, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that Bryant had recently requested a trade and since that time several other media outsets have claimed they also have confirmed that news. On Monday, Bryant reportedly addressed that report.
According to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Bryant said on Monday that he did not request a trade. He reportedly talked for about five minutes to the media with his theme being that he now wants to move on from the topic.
After returning from Kansas City late Sunday night, Bryant posted on Twitter that he was now ready to get back to work following the Steelers big win over the Chiefs and that he’s happy to be a Steeler and looking forward to helping the team win a championship this season.
Since the Bryant trade report surfaced additional reports have stated the Steelers have no intentions of trading the wide receiver and that makes sense. In case you’re curious, the NFL trade deadline this season is October 31.
Is this just damage control on Bryant’s part? It’s hard to know for sure. It is, however, easy to imagine that Bryant might be unhappy with his cut in playing time over the course of the last several weeks.
Moving forward into this week you can count on several Steelers players and coaches to be asked about Bryant and if he indeed did ask recently to be traded.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and head coach Mike Tomlin will both talk to the media on Tuesday so expect both of them to be asked about the trade reports concerning Bryant.
Martavis Bryant says he is happy to stay in Pittsburgh. pic.twitter.com/cnqVutVMDe
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 16, 2017
