Apr 20, 2015 4 min read

The Steelers opened voluntary offseason workouts Monday with one notable player missing.

All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown won’t be attending any of the Steelers voluntary workouts, his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said.

Beyond that, we’ll see.

This caused much consternation among Steelers fans. Perhaps, this is why the team hosted a number of potential first-round wide receiver prospects in their predraft visits?

Or maybe not.

Brown isn’t going anywhere and given his passion for the sport and competitiveness, he’s unlikely to skip anything of consequence.

At 26, Brown is one of the top wide receivers in the NFL. He’s coming off his best season, one in which he led the NFL in receptions (129) and receiving yards (1,698) while also catching 13 touchdown passes.

For that production, he was compensated $6 million as part of a five-year, $41.7-million contract extension he signed in 2012.

He’s scheduled to make $6 million again this season, with his salary rising above $8 million in 2016 and 2017, the final two years of his deal.

Is he undercompensated? Perhaps, when you look around the league.

The average of Brown’s deal – $8.32 million – ranks 14th in the NFL among wide receivers. He’d obviously like to be at least among the top five, which would put him in the range of former teammate Mike Wallace’s contract.

Wallace, who was traded from Miami to Minnesota this offseason, averages $12 million per year from a deal he signed with the Dolphins.

But maybe the bigger issue for Brown is just 20 percent of his contract is guaranteed.

A quick look at the receivers who are scheduled to be paid more than Brown in 2015, all have much more of their salary guaranteed. Only Green Bay’s Jordy Nelson, at 29 percent of his $39 million package, is even close.

Therein lies the rub for Brown.

Unlike players in other major professional sports, NFL contracts aren’t fully guaranteed. Blow out your knee or suddenly become unproductive and you’ll quickly find yourself on the unemployment line or asked to take a pay cut.

Don’t think so? Ask Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor or James Harrison.

All three were asked by the Steelers to take pay cuts in recent years if they wanted to stay with the team. Polamalu and Taylor acquiesced. Harrison did not and was released, spending a season in Cincinnati before returning to the Steelers last year.

It happens like that all around the league.

So why shouldn’t a player, who outperformed his contract, try to get more money? After all, NFL careers are fleeting, with even the best players seeing their careers come to an end in their early 30s. They have to make as much money as they can while they are still able to perform.

It might not make Steelers fans happy. Heck, it probably doesn’t make the Steelers’ front office happy.

But it’s part of life. Many forget professional athletes are entertainers.

The same people who might claim Brown is being selfish by wanting more money will have no trouble dropping $15 per ticket to watch their favorite actor in a movie in which they make tens of millions of dollars – even if it bombs. And they have a stunt double to take the big hits.

Brown has no such luxury.

Will skipping offseason workouts help him achieve his goal? Probably not this year. The Steelers are unlikely to make a move to tear up Brown’s current deal and give him a new one with three years remaining.

But it could be something the team revisits in 2016, when it opens up additional salary cap space.

In the meantime, Brown is missing nothing of consequence. It’s not like he’s sitting around his house eating cheese puffs and getting fat.

Part of the reason he became one of the best players in the league is because of his ridiculous work ethic. And that’s not going to change anytime soon.

F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.