Report: Antonio Brown’s teammates do not believe knee injury was real

Mike Tomlin indicated to reporters on Wednesday that Antonio Brown actually was dealing with a knee injury last week before he was benched for the final game of the regular season, but some of the star wide receiver’s teammates are apparently not buying it.

Tomlin told the media that Brown showed up last Wednesday reporting that his knee was a bit sore, so he was given the day off. When Brown said the knee was still bothering him the next two days, Tomlin asked him to get an MRI on Friday. Brown never did.

AB did not go through with the MRI that Mike Tomlin requested

— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) January 2, 2019

While Tomlin said Wednesday that he has no reason to believe Brown was lying about the knee pain, Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL Network spoke with several Steelers players who do not feel the same way.

Mike Tomlin said “no” when asked if he had any reason to doubt the veracity of Antonio Brown’s claim of knee discomfort. But he acknowledges Brown never got an MRI and multiple #Steelers told me THEY did not believe Brown was hurt.

If your teammates think you tapped out…

— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) January 2, 2019

There have been reports that Brown had an argument with Ben Roethlisberger at some point during the week leading up to Pittsburgh’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, and then he disappeared. There’s no way to know if he was telling the truth about having a knee injury if he refused to allow the medical staff to examine him, but you can understand why that refusal creates skepticism.

Brown could smooth things over with Tomlin and his teammates in the coming weeks, but a timely tweet he sent on Wednesday makes it seem like he is not ready to do that. An offseason trade would not be a surprise given all that has unfolded.