This is definitely not something you want to hear, especially just a couple of days removed form an embarrassing loss in the AFC Championship Game to the New England Patriots.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are reportedly growing concerned that All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown is focused more on his individual stats than the team’s success.
Obviously, a lot has been made of Antonio Brown over the last week, ever since the infamous Facebook Live incident after the Divisional Round victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, in which he live streamed the Steelers locker room after head coach Mike Tomlin specifically told his team to “lay off social media.”
According to Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL Network via ProFootballTalk:
After DeAngelo Williams scored the Steelers’ first touchdown in the AFC Championship Game, Brown was pouting while the rest of his teammates were celebrating because Brown wanted the ball to go to him, not Williams, on the play. And that’s not new: Last year, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin had to sit Brown down and tell him to stop chasing statistics, and that his only concern should be winning championships.
Antonio Brown, 28, is heading into the final year of his contract, and there’s been a lot of talk that the Steelers are planning on giving their all-pro wide receiver a new extension this offseason.
Typically, a team would do everything it could to make sure a talent like Antonio Brown, who’s coming off his fourth straight season of 1,200 yards receiving but between Mike Tomlin’s remarks and the NFL Network report, things aren’t so straightforward as it may seem.
The Steelers, who’ve been known to move on from troubled wide receiver’s before over questionable decisions, Santonio Holmes, Emmanuel Sanders. It would come as a surprise if the Steelers do engage in some trade talks but get ready for an offseason filled with trade rumors as there would be no shortage of suitors if one of the game’s top play makers became available in the coming months.
