Jerry Rice added his own fuel to the Antonio Brown fire Monday.
Speaking with San Francisco's 95.7 The Game, Rice commented on the interesting dynamic between Brown and the Steelers organization, dropping some personal insight in the process.
"He wants to come here really bad," Rice said. "He's talking about running the hill with me, doing all that and just working out, just picking my brain."
Rice recently spoke with Brown via FaceTime, which was backed up by Brown’s Instagram story Sunday. Brown posted a screenshot from FaceTime, and he can be seen chatting with the NFL legend.
This continues Brown’s trend of interacting with 49ers and teasing a move west. Earlier this month, Brown responded to Niners tight end George Kittle via Twitter, sparking more speculation:
— Antonio Brown (@AB84) January 1, 2019
Then there's this, posted Sunday on his Instagram story:
Antonio Brown doesn’t care about your “feelings”. pic.twitter.com/xrQ7fwWWae
— Alex Tran (@NinerAlex) January 14, 2019
While the tension between Brown and the Steelers is obvious right now — even Art Rooney II has publicly expressed doubt in Brown playing for the team in 2019 — Rice believes the star wide receiver would fit in well in San Francisco.
"Antonio and I, we have always kept in communication," Rice said. "This guy, man, he's a totally complete team player. I don't know what happened in Pittsburgh, but I know that this guy, if he comes here to San Francisco, he's going to do everything possible to help this team to win."
The 49ers hold the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2019, an enticing trade piece for the Steelers. Would that be enough to get the deal done? Rice isn't sure, but he’d vote ‘yes’ in a heartbeat.
"I don't know if it's going to happen because it's going to be up to (head coach) Kyle Shanahan and also (general manager) John Lynch, but I'm all for it if they want him to come on board, and I would be looking forward to passing some of that knowledge onto him and being around this guy, because I know he's a great individual," Rice said.
