Antonio Brown has shown on more than one occasion that he is prone to lapses in judgment, and one of the star receiver’s former teammates believes that is more about Brown’s selfish personality than it is about making honest mistakes.
Ryan Clark, a former Pittsburgh Steelers safety who now works as an analyst for ESPN, said this week that Brown creates the impression that he puts the team’s interest ahead of his own, but that’s not actually what the All-Pro is doing.
“Antonio has done an extremely good job of tricking people,” Clark said on ESPN Radio, as transcribed by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “He’s done a very good spin job of having us think, or making people think who don’t know him, that it’s all about the Pittsburgh Steelers, [Brown is] just a hard worker who’s here to win football games. No, Antonio Brown loves Antonio Brown.
“If you listen to people talk about him. If you listen to the media, a lot of time the fans, they have an adoration for him that is not necessarily a depiction of who he is. He’s like most receivers. He’s selfish.”
It’s hard to argue with Clark, who spent four seasons as Brown’s teammate, when you see the outburst Brown had during Sunday’s game. He was angry that Ben Roethlisberger missed him wide open over the middle of the field, so he reacted by slamming a cooler on the sideline and slapping a coach’s hand away from him. Selfish is a great way of describing that behavior.
Even Roethlisberger admitted on Monday that Brown’s outburst was “unfortunate” and a distraction to the team. The same types of things were said last year when Brown infamously broadcasted a private moment from the Steelers’ locker room to his own personal Facebook page. Lesser players would not get away with some of the things the five-time Pro Bowler does.
