Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Trade, Roster Rumors: Wide Receiver Martavis Bryant Reportedly Asked to Be Traded
It appears that Martavis Bryant may not be happy with his role in the Pittsburgh Steelers offense this season.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport was the first to report that Bryant has asked the Steelers to trade him, and ESPN's Dan Graziano has also noted that he was told the same thing by his source.
"Request was made weeks ago, source says. Bryant spoke with Steelers coaches ahead of Week 5 game, asking to be more involved in the offense. He's upset with target share distribution and sub packages that swap him out for rookie JuJu Smith-Schulte," Graziano said.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
However, Bryant has denied that he requested a trade.
"No, I'm good, man. I'm good to go. I just want to play ball. Play this year out, finish strong, and just move on forward," Bryant said, via SBNation.com.
Bryant will continue to say all the right things in public, but his girlfriend, Deja Hiott, has already fanned the flames of the rumor by blasting the Steelers in a since-deleted tweet.
Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has also reported that their sources told them Bryant did ask for a trade a couple of weeks ago.
"While Bryant denied Monday that he requested a trade, either he or his representatives or some combination did just that two weeks ago," Ray Fittipaldo said in his report for Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Well, Bryant's trade request just doesn't make a ton of sense right now since he's still the second-most targeted wide receiver on the roster behind five-time Pro Bowler Antonio Brown. And it's interesting to note that the Steelers also stood by him when he was suspended for the entire 2016 season for violations of the National Football League's (NFL) substance-abuse policy.
Teams will likely call the Steelers to see if he's available, but ESPN's Jeremey Fowler has reported that the Steelers are not looking to trade the wide receiver right now. Of course, that may change in the coming weeks as the trade deadline draws near.
