The Pittsburgh Steelers’ season is over, but if you think the news surrounding the black-and-gold is over — think again. For the drama-filled Steelers, things are just heating up, and this is where the daily links article comes in. You might have missed some key news, and we fill you in and give you the latest, and sometimes greatest, news surrounding the Steelers.

Today in the Black-and-gold links article we take a look at how former outside linebacker, James Harrison, is now turning his attention away from the football field, and to — the big screen?

According to ESPN, Harrison is seriously considering trying to start up an acting career, and he wouldn’t be the first athlete to do so. The question is, would he be any good?

Let’s get to the news:

‘The Rock better watch out’: How James Harrison plans to sack Hollywood

By: Jeremy Fowler, ESPN

And James Harrison thought beating a tackle off the edge was tiring.

Try logging a 16-hour day on a television set or hitting up multiple auditions throughout Los Angeles.

The two-time Super Bowl winner and Pittsburgh Steelers’ all-time sack leader gained a new appreciation for the Hollywood grind during his acting debut on the CBS show “S.W.A.T.,” which shot every scene from multiple angles.

”It’s like repeating the same play 30 times,” Harrison said with a laugh. “After about five, you’re like, ‘I’ve got it.’”

If Harrison has his way, and he usually does, the guest spot as a member of the Los Angeles Fire Department will vault him into acting stardom.

He isn’t looking for a hobby. He wants a legitimate post-football career. He has signed with Mosaic Entertainment, hired an acting coach and taken dozens of meetings with producers and casting directors since he began flying from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles more frequently.

Harrison, who’s also appearing on Fox Sports 1 as an analyst, first considered acting when he retired the first time in August 2014. He added four more seasons and 18.5 more sacks before retiring for good in 2018.

As a Steeler, Harrison thrived off toughness, strength and intimidation. He’s finding that he doesn’t need that persona all the time now.

”It’s a little different [from football]. They look different. They’re not as big,” Harrison said of his Hollywood encounters. “It’s a different atmosphere. It’s something I had been looking at the last few years, thinking hopefully this would lead to other things.”

Harrison has a non-exclusive contract with Fox Sports, so while he’s out in Los Angeles working for Fox, he can take meetings and table reads.

Known as one of the NFL’s most prolific weightlifters, thanks to workouts posted on Instagram, Harrison admits that action films would be “preferable, no question.” He’s built for that. But he’s open to all ideas. He recently read a dramatic part about a family member getting kidnapped and surprised himself with his depth.

”I would say I’m not actually skilled in it as far as a student of it. What I bring is raw,” Harrison said. “I’m trying to get that refined. Emotional responses, that’s the hard thing. Being able to be, like, extremely compassionate. Actors like Denzel [Washington] being able to go that whole spectrum. I think that’s what I’ll have to get a lot of help on refining.”

(To read more, click the link in the headline...)

Tim Benz: Antonio Brown misses one important detail from his goodbye tweet

By: Tim Benz, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Tuesday was the ultimate Antonio Brown day.

Shortly before news broke from ESPN that the disgruntled Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver hadformally requested a trade , Brown sent a tweet, bidding a fond farewell to Pittsburgh.

It was a pleasant, grounded message. It was a kind outreach. The video even included hugs and warm moments with Ben Roethlisberger, the apparent subject of Brown’s discontent in the ’Burgh.

When I saw that post, it struck me as the lone mature, sane, human thing Brown has done during this whole divorce he is trying to force.

Then I thought about it some more.

That’s when I realized: This is “as AB as AB gets.”

I’ll grant him this. He was trying. His heart was in the right place. He — and whoever he hired to edit that video — tried to hit the right notes.

Keep something in mind, though. Just because Brown is asking for a trade doesn’t mean he is going to get one.

Not yet anyway. Nor has he been guaranteed a release.

Unless Brown — and his agent Drew Rosenhaus — know something we don’t, no deal is in place.

If general manager Kevin Colbert doesn’t get return to his liking, the Steelers may not trade Brown. If Art Rooney II is so nauseated by the notion of Brown engineering his own ticket out of Pittsburgh, he may not acquiesce by cutting his pouting star.

Let me be clear. Those options would be the best possible outcomes to end this ridiculous situation. Get Brown out of town and perhaps get some sort of return in a deal. The Steelers need to find a partner, however. Or they need to accommodate AB’s whim and cut him.

Isn’t this latest development, “Sooooo Antonio Brown?”

(To read more, click the link in the headline...)

49ers have much to consider in potential pursuit of Antonio Brown

By: Nick Wagoner, ESPN

There has been nothing subtle about the flirtation between Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown and the San Francisco 49ers. Or, better put, between various players on the Niners’ roster and Brown.

Before we dive into the pros and cons of a potential union between the 49ers and Brown, let’s recap the very public evidence indicating that Brown would like to be a Niner and that potential Niners teammates would like to remove the potential qualifier from the equation.

Soon after rumors of a potential divorce between Brown and the Steelers began to spread in January, 49ers tight end George Kittle tweeted at Brown, a move that Kittle told Jim Rome during Super Bowl week was the result of a dare from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. Brown responded positively to Kittle’s tweet and his response spurred a retweet from Garoppolo himself. Brown then followed various 49ers-related accounts.

All the emojis and tweets were one thing, but Brown’s apparent interest in the 49ers seemed far more real when 49ers legend Jerry Rice joined the fray, telling 95.7 The Game, a radio station in San Francisco, that Brown wants to come to San Francisco “really bad.” That was after Brown posted an image on his Instagram of a FaceTime conversation he’d had with Rice. Brown even went so far as to post a doctored photo of himself in a Niners uniform embracing Rice.

In the end, even after Brown officially requested a trade Tuesday and thanked Steelers fans via Twitter, none of that stuff matters much because it doesn’t account for the only variables that truly count: whether the Steelers will actually trade Brown, what the price would be if they do, whether the 49ers decision-makers are truly interested, what they’d be willing to give up and how that would compare to other offers the Steelers could get.

At this point, the Steelers haven’t been in a hurry to move Brown, though owner Art Rooney II has acknowledged that it’s “hard to envision” Brown still with the team come training camp while also keeping the door open for a reconciliation.

For their part, the Niners have not and will not publicly comment on potential interest in Brown out of deference to the NFL’s tampering guidelines.

(To read more, click the link in the headline...)