Time heals all wounds. At least that's what the Steelers are hoping when it comes to the current rift between the team and star receiver Antonio Brown.
Brown, it seems, has different ideas.
Not only is he ignoring all calls from the team, including those from Mike Tomlin and Art Rooney II, while Tomlin was discussing what had transpired between Brown and the team since the middle of last week, Brown was posting this on Twitter:
Happy New Year. Be great. pic.twitter.com/QLna1LRncL
— Antonio Brown (@AB84) January 2, 2019
Meanwhile, he appeared with former Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison, himself disgruntled with Tomlin, while Tomlin was speaking about the situation, and posted this on Instagram.
It's a bizarre situation that the Steelers remain in the dark about, despite numerous attempts to reach Brown.
The Steelers and Brown stand at a crossroads regarding the future of the star receiver. And where it leads is anyone's best guess.
The situation arose following an incident at the team walk-through last Wednesday morning between Brown and Ben Roethlisberger. According to a source, the two had words after Roethlisberger wanted a play run again because he said Brown had run the wrong route. Brown took offense because Roethlisberger was not practicing, as was the case throughout the 2018 season, and let Roethlisberger know he didn't appreciate being called out on a day that Roethlisberger was not participating.
But Brown stayed at the team facility that day and was in street clothes at Wednesday's afternoon practice. It was announced he had been given the time off after telling Tomlin he was experiencing some knee pain. Tomlin, as he does with a number of veterans, gave the receiver the day off from the afternoon practice session and listed him as out because of a coaches' decision for practice. Roethlisberger and center Maurkice Pouncey also had the same designation.
Tomlin said the next day, Brown reported to the team facility and said he was still experiencing knee pain. He again was held out of practice and was listed on the team's injury report as out because of coaches' decision/knee.
Finally, Tomlin said Brown showed up for work Friday morning saying he was experiencing the same knee pain. At that point, Tomlin said the team decided to send Brown for an MRI. The MRI was scheduled, but Brown left the practice facility and did not go to the doctor as ordered. He then refused to return calls from Tomlin Friday night or all day Saturday.
“I wasn’t able to communicate with him on Friday evening or Saturday morning. So, when we had our Saturday morning mock game and walk-through he was unavailable and I hadn’t communicated with him. Then it became something altogether different," Tomlin said. "(I) woke up Sunday morning, got a call from his agent, Drew Rosenhaus. Drew expressed that (Brown) was feeling better and that he would potentially be able to participate. I outlined to Drew that decisions weren’t made like that. But I would be interested in visiting with him in-person in the stadium prior to the game, but playing wasn’t on the menu.”
Tomlin said he met with Brown briefly on the field prior to Sunday's 16-13 win in the regular season finale over the Bengals. Brown stayed until just before halftime and left the stadium. Nobody on the team has heard from him since.
Team captain Cam Heyward said that, in itself, was highly disappointing.
"We all want ‘A.B.’ here but to be a part of this team you can’t do that," Heyward said on WDVE 102.5-FM. "You don’t let your brothers down. I’m sure Kevin (Colbert), Coach Tomlin will be talking to him but going forward that’s unacceptable. We all gotta be there.”
In fact, Heyward suggested this is going to take some time.
"A lot of mending. It can be mended, I think it should be mended but that’s not to say we don’t hold each other accountable and demand more," Heyward said. "Everybody makes mistakes but it’s about owning up to your mistakes, understand where you fell short."
This, however, isn't the first incident involving Brown, who set an NFL record this season by recording his sixth-consecutive 100-reception season while also leading the NFL with 15 touchdown catches.
He's very talented, so much so the Steelers gave him a four-year, $68-million contract extension prior to the start of the 2017 season. And therein lies the rub.
Tomlin said Wednesday the team has received no "formal" trade request from Brown -- largely because he has not been in contact with anyone. But a trade would be troublesome.
First, the Steelers aren't going to receive anything of equal value for Brown the player. Since playing sparingly as a rookie in 2010, Brown has 821 receptions for 11,040 yards and 74 touchdowns in seven seasons, the best such stretch for any receiver in league history.
And at 30, he's still got several good seasons remaining.
His contract also is an issue. Brown is due a $2.5 million roster bonus just after the start of the 2019 league year in March and will count $22.165 million against the team's salary cap if he's on the roster. If he's traded before June 1, he would still count $21.12 million. If he's traded after June 1, the team could spread his cap hit over the next three seasons, at $7 million each year, but that would then mean a 2019 draft pick could not be involved.
The Steelers also would still be tasked with replacing Brown, arguably the most talented receiver in the league and a player voted the second-best in the league regardless of position by his peers just last spring, just over a month before the start of training camp.
But he then sat out a large portion of training camp with a quad injury, with Tomlin sending him home for two weeks to rehab the injury to get him away from the training camp setting where Brown was a distraction during practice, signing autographs for fans on the sideline while practice was taking place. Video during his time away from the team showed him working with a trainer in Miami.
Then, when he did report, Brown skipped a team meeting following a Week 2, 42-37 loss to the Chiefs, with Rosenhaus reportedly calling Tomlin to tell him Brown was "sick." Tomlin met with and fined Brown for that infraction.
Brown also twice threatened reporters on social media during the season.
Tomlin, who has had other issues with Brown in the past, was asked if there could come a time when Brown's off-field actions would become too much for the team to tolerate, simply replied, "Certainly."
But whether the Steelers have reached that point remains to be seen. Tomlin said the Steelers are in no hurry to make a move one way or the other regarding the issue.
"We take his lack of communication, his lack of presence — particularly on Saturday prior to the game — to be something that’s very significant and will be handled appropriately so," Tomlin said. “I’m not going to speculate on trades and things of that nature. We haven’t formally received a request in that regard, so I’m not going to speculate. I’m not going to speculate in terms of where the discipline might go and things of that nature. Just know that it will be addressed.”
How and when that occurs might take some time to sort through. Tomlin typically won't address the media again until the NFL spring meetings in March, which will be held in Phoenix this year. But Rooney typically holds a media session sometime in the weeks after the team is finished playing and is sure to be asked about Brown.
The Steelers will continue to sort through this with Brown, with Rosenhaus also likely playing a large part. And if he's part of the team in 2019, the players will sign off on it, as well. At least according to Heyward.
"If they sign off, I always feel good about it," Heyward said. "This happened at the end of the year, you’re not going to have a team meeting. There are some guys that need to work things out. Hopefully they work things out and it dissipates.”
Following are Tomlin's answers to some specific questions about the incident:
Have you spoken with Brown since Sunday?
"I haven't spoken with him since that meeting I had with him prior to the game at the stadium on Sunday. Obviously we're going to address it. We're going to address him and the circumstance. We're going to information-gather and use all the time at our disposal... I was hopeful that we would be working this week but we're not, so because we're not, we're going to information-gather and deal with it. Like we do in all circumstances, we're going to deal with it appropriately. We're going to deal with it in-house, and I'm sure that you'll hear about the intimate details. But because we're not playing a game this week, it hasn't been addressed to this point."
Do you view this as an act of petulance on his part?
"Like I said last week, the circumstances being what they were and the amount of things that we were going through... There wasn't a lot of communication there. Obviously, we take his lack of communication, his lack of presence — particularly on Saturday prior to the game — to be something that's very significant and will be handled appropriately so. I'm not going to speculate on trades and things of that nature. We haven't formally received a request in that regard, so I'm not going to speculate. I'm not going to speculate in terms of where the discipline might go and things of that nature. Just know that it will be addressed."
Why, officially, did Brown miss the game Sunday?
"He was absent due to injury and lack of information. When he did not show up on Saturday and I didn't know the extent of his injury, I made the decision at that time, regardless of how he felt at any point that we were moving on and getting singularly focused on preparing to play the game. When he woke up on Sunday and felt better and Drew reached out and expressed that, I expressed to Drew that playing was not on the table because we had to draw a line in the dirt in terms of getting our group ready to play and make the last-minute preparations and so forth. So it was about his health or lack of information relative to his health in terms of determining his availability. That's why he was listed on the injury report. That's why he was listed on the injury report in the manner which he was listed."
Did Brown get the MRI Friday before the game?
"He did not. On Friday he did not. But again, when I talked to you guys on Friday, I was not aware of that."
On Rosenhaus responding instead of Brown:
"We had a game to play and so I was focused on the guys that were preparing to play the game and I wasn't wasting a lot of my time assessing that element of it."
Is there a situation where you can envision a trade of Antonio Brown?
"Again, I'm not going to speculate in terms of things that I can envision. I'm just not."
Do you have any reason to doubt he had soreness in his knee?
"I don't."
How challenging for you will it be for you to depend on him going forward?
"Again, I'm not speculating on what life is going to be like going forward. What I am going to do is address the circumstances and then move on from there."
Does things reach a point with AB where it becomes more problematic than useful?
"Certainly."
Was there an issue between Antonio and Ben?
"I'm sure there's situations and conversations and disagreements that go on, professionally speaking, all the time, but not anything of any significance that would produce the conversation that we're having or something that (we'd need) to overcome in the manner which we're discussing."
In the wake of this, one of the things they're talking about is a lack of trust, a bond of trust being broken, letting your brothers down, mending has to be done. Is this the proper context?
"Absolutely. When we're talking about our darkest hour, we're talking about playing to win a game and needing other dominoes to fall for us to be in the tournament, and a guy not communicating — that is a real element of discussion, certainly."
Did AB quit on the Steelers?
"You know, you can describe it in whatever ways you want to describe it, but there was a lack of communication there that can lead to thoughts and things of that nature that can go in many directions. The bottom line is that we were playing a significant game and he didn't do a good enough job of communicating or being available in the hours leading up to that performance, so we needed to make decisions pertinent to getting prepared to play in that performance... Obviously there are some things within that that you can infer, certainly."
How do you, as the coach, foster team chemistry?
"I accept responsibility and I foster and develop every aspect of our culture, so that's this game. That's leadership. You embrace and respect and honor all aspects of that."
Do you feel you need to step back and be more of a disciplinarian?
"Certainly. I think that you're always taking a step back, and when I'm talking about taking a step back and waddling in it, I'm not only talking about those that play and those that coach in there. I start with the thumb... You're not going to routinely do the same things and expect results to change. The fact that we're having this meeting, this press conference, today tells you that, you know, that line of thinking is very necessary — for all parties involved and starting with me."
Are you aware that Ben and Antonio had any kind of a disagreement that would have caused Antonio to leave practice abruptly?
"No."
Was Antonio supposed to be here yesterday?
"Correct."
Do you know where he is?
"Like I mentioned, I hadn't talked to him since prior to the game on Sunday. Again, I wasn't here yesterday... I wasn't here yesterday. No one was required to be here yesterday, so I don't know what your reference to 'yesterday' was about. He wasn't here on Monday and I didn't talk to him on Monday. I didn't talk to him after the game on Sunday. I talked to him prior to the game on Sunday and to be quite honest with you, I wasn't looking for conversation with anyone in a professional way yesterday."
Will you talk to veteran players and assess how they feel about Brown?
"Most certainly. I don't hate perspective. I don't care where good ideas come from. You can't have that attitude when you're singularly invested and focused on being better and winning, which we are."
When you do communicate with Brown, what do you want to hear him say?
"I'm not going to frame any anticipation and things of that nature. We're going to have a conversation I'm sure. I want to get around to it. But I'm doing things, obviously, with a lot of people within our organization, professionally, in terms of assessing what transpired and why. It will occur. I'm sure it will occur in the upcoming days."
