By Rachael Cataldo, Asst. Sports Editor
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ star wide receiver Antonio Brown has been making headlines all over the media for the past couple months, but for the wrong reasons.
Brown proved himself to be just like free agent running back Le’Veon Bell. The “Killer B’s” of the Steelers are transforming into the Pittsburgh Drama Queens.
On Dec. 30, 2018, Pittsburgh barely beat its division rival, the Cincinnati Bengals 16–13. Some may say it was because head coach Mike Tomlin made a game-time decision to bench Brown for “skipping practices.”
Shortly after the game ended, news broke that Brown left the stadium during halftime extremely angry. Then the truth came out.
Earlier in the week, the Steelers announced their team MVP was second-year wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. Coincidentally (or not) at the same practice, Brown got into a heated argument with team quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, threw something at him, and stormed off.
Steelers’ owners, coaches, general manager, and players reached out to Brown after the incident. Brown did not answer in any form for months. Of course, he did have time to post on social media, looking for a pity party from the fans he had left.
I’ve been a Steelers fan for my entire life. As soon as the Steelers drafted Brown in 2010, I was so excited. I asked my parents for his jersey for Christmas. However, speaking as a football fan in general, I am disgusted and frankly disappointed with Brown’s behavior.
There’s a reason why Brown wasn’t drafted until the 6th round of the NFL Draft. His high school and college coaches spoke out recently to say the drama surrounding Brown is nothing new.
It seems like Brown cannot stand the fact that there’s another receiver on the Steelers’ depth chart that has the potential to play at his level in a few years. Brown doesn’t have the “there’s no ‘I’ in team” morality he needs.
Brown’s hopes and wishes for a trade were answered. Steelers’ owner Art Rooney II met with Brown in Florida on Feb. 19 and according to a tweet later issued by Brown, “both agreed that it’s time to move on.”
The Steelers are actively open to the possibility of trading Brown, but nothing promising has come up yet. General Manager Kevin Colbert said there is no deadline to find a deal when he was asked about Brown’s $2.5 million roster bonus payment on March 17.
Thanks for the memories, A.B.
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