Aug 31, 2016 5 min read

Earlier this week, Steelers star receiver Antonio Brown expressed confidence the team would take care of his contract issues.

That confidence appears to have been well placed.

The Steelers on Wednesday reworked Brown’s contract for the second consecutive season, moving $4 million of his salary for 2017 into this season, bringing his compensation for 2016 to $10.25 million.

Brown, who has led the NFL in receptions in each of the past two seasons, had been scheduled to make $6.25 million this season, which ranked 26th in the NFL among players at his position in compensation. Now, he will rank ninth.

Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, met with members of the Steelers’ front office last week when the team was in New Orleans for a preseason game to hammer out some of the details of the deal.

Brown, 28, said he had a good feeling something would get done.

“Mr. Rooney and those guys always do a good job,” Brown said of team president Art Rooney II. “They are men of their word and they do what they say.”

Brown has two years remaining on a five-year, $41.7-million contract he signed in 2012 but has seen a number of other receivers get deals exceeding that in recent years. Just last week, Los Angeles gave Tavon Austin, who has 123 career receptions, a four-year, $42-million contract.

The Steelers have a long-standing policy in place that they do not extend contracts with non-quarterbacks with more than one year remaining on their current deal, which was a sticking point between the team and Rosenhaus.

But last week, the team freed up around $5 million in salary cap space by converting the base salaries this season for safety Mike Mitchell and right tackle Marcus Gilbert into signing bonus.

The team also signed inside linebacker Vince Williams to a contract extension worth $5.5 million over three years.

The Steelers continue to negotiate a contract extension with Pro Bowl guard David DeCastro, who will be a free agent at the end of this season. General manager Kevin Colbert has said the team will stick to its policy of not negotiating on new deals once the regular season begins, meaning the Steelers, who open the regular season Sept. 12 in Washington, have just over a week to get something completed with DeCastro.

Steelers claim QB, place Gradkowski on IR: The Steelers claimed veteran Zach Mettenberger off waivers Wednesday, placing veteran quarterback Bruce Gradkowski on injured reserve.

Mettenberger, a sixth-round draft pick of Tennessee in 2014 out of LSU, had been released by San Diego Tuesday.

The three-year veteran has completed 208 of 345 career passes for 2,347 yards, 12 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He’s 0-10 as a starter in his career – all with Tennessee.

One of those starts came during his rookie season in 2014 when he completed 15 of 24 passes for 263 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in a 27-24 loss in Tennessee to the Steelers.

The Steelers are content with Landry Jones serving as Ben Roethlisberger’s backup this season, despite a four-interception performance two weeks ago in a preseason loss to Philadelphia.

Jones rebounded last week to complete 19 of 22 passes for 206 yards and a touchdown in a win at New Orleans.

“It was a good performance by him, a much needed one,” said head coach Mike Tomlin. “And hopefully, he continues to build.”

The Steelers do have, however, had some question marks behind Roethlisberger and Jones before claiming Mettenberger, who will join the team Friday when it returns from Thursday’s preseason game in Carolina.

Gradkowski had been dealing with a severe hamstring injury, while Dustin Vaughan, who was with the team throughout the offseason and training camp, was released after suffering a fractured thumb on his throwing hand.

Those two injuries prompted the team to sign journeyman Bryn Renner last week. Renner saw limited playing time in the team’s win at New Orleans last week but is expected to play a significant amount at Carolina in the team’s preseason finale.

The team also is expected to place cornerback Senquez Golson on injured reserve Saturday when it trims its roster to 53 players.

Harrison cleared: The NFL announced Wednesday it has cleared Steelers linebacker James Harrison and Green Bay’s Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers of using performance-enhancing drugs after conducting interviews with the trio last week.

The league said there was “no credible evidence” of the claims made in a documentary by Al-Jazeera America earlier this year.

The announcement ends an investigation that was contentious from the start, culminating with the league threatening Harrison, Matthews, Peppers and free agent Mike Neal with indefinite suspensions if they did not meet with investigators.

The NFL Players Association recommended the players not take part in the investigation.

Former Denver quarterback Peyton Manning, who also was named in the Al-Jazeera report, had been cleared earlier this year after meeting with the league.