In just a few weeks time, Antonio Brown has gone from arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL to a frustrating player who annoys his teammates and coaches and often loses focus on the field — at least in the media.
One Steelers beat writer, Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, believes the team should consider trading Brown this offseason. With Brown expecting a massive contract extension as he enters the final year of his deal, Cook argues that the five-time Pro Bowler’s skills could decline as he approaches age 30. In addition, Cook says several of Brown’s teammates have grown tired of his “silly, look-at-me antics.”
But that isn’t the most alarming part. Brown was supposedly unhappy with how he was being used in Pittsburgh’s offense in more than one game this season. That apparently led to the All-Pro making mistakes on the field, and Cook wonders if those “mistakes” were made out of spite.
The distractions are a real problem. Brown’s three excessive celebrations penalties early in the season were bad enough. But there was the incident in the first Miami game when he jogged back to the line of scrimmage, delaying his teammates from running their 2-minute offense. In more than one game, when he wasn’t happy with how he was being used, he frequently ran the wrong patterns, either because of a lack of focus or — worse — intentionally. It happened a week ago in the AFC championship. That’s inexcusable.
There’s no question Brown made a huge mistake when he decided to broadcast live on social media from his team’s locker room after a playoff win (video here). It would be easy to conclude that reporters have simply taken that slip-up and run with it, but Ben Roethlisberger’s recent comments about Brown are noteworthy. If the Steelers are going to make Brown one of the highest-paid receivers in the league, they may need to have a long talk with him first.
