Despite being one of the best bargains in the league, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown will report to training camp Thursday, hopeful and confident his contract will be addressed before the start of the regular season, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.
Having Brown in training camp will be one less headache for a Steelers team that already has its running back Le'Veon Bell facing a four-game suspension and its wide receiver Martavis Bryant serving a one-year suspension.
But at some point, Pittsburgh likely will be asked to consider options to compensate Brown like one of the top receivers in the game that he has proven to be, per a source.
Brown, coming off a 136-catch season when he made $1 million in base salary, is scheduled to make $6.25 million in base salary this season. It is a figure below some of the league's top wide receivers, and personnel executives have suspected that Pittsburgh could be asked to address the situation this summer.
All together, Brown has two more years remaining on his contract and is scheduled to make $8.71 million in base salary in 2017, the last year of his contract.
But when camp opens Thursday, and Steelers players must report by 4 pm ET, Brown will be there, confident that his contract will be addressed in the coming weeks.