Should the Steelers move on from Antonio Brown? 'Speak For Yourself' debates

Published Feb. 1, 2017 7:49 p.m. ET

Andrew Lynch

Pittsburgh Steelers star wide receiver Antonio Brown has made headlines since the end of the 2016 regular season — and rarely for the right reasons.

Last month, Brown apologized for broadcasting a Facebook Live video from inside the Steelers locker room that revealed a profanity-laced message from Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin. And earlier this week, a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report indicated Brown would run the wrong patterns when he wasn't happy with the Steelers' play-calling:

In more than one game, when he wasn’t happy with how he was being used, he frequently ran the wrong patterns, either because of a lack of focus or — worse — intentionally.

COWHERD: I look at it like parenting. I've got a lot of mouths to feed, I've got different personalities. I kind of have a salary cap.

It would be one thing if my kids made a mistake. "Oh, dad, I forgot to clean my room." But if my kids, I found out they said, "Oh, I knew I was supposed to clean my room, but I was going to show dad," we're gonna have a problem. That's gonna be a problem.

For a wide receiver to say — because remember, offensive football is efficiency, it's essentially choreography — so you run the wrong route, you mess with Greg Jennings' route. And you mess with my tight end's route. And oh by the way, Tom Brady won't throw a football to guys if he doesn't trust them. I have a huge problem with a wide receiver being so selfish that he hurts his teammates.

I tell you what: if this was in New England, you think he would play next year? No way.

JENNINGS: Here's the thing: these aren't facts. We don't know this to be true. Knowing AB, I find it hard to believe that. I do. I do. Because he's an unselfish guy on the field. I'm talking on the field. ... I will say this. He needs that "guy," that brother, that Hines Ward, if you will, to say, "Look man, calm down. I need you to relax." ...

That's what the Pittsburgh Steelers need to do right now, because we understand the relationship with he and Ben. Ben loves him, but Ben also has to be that big brother that Jerome Bettis and those guys were for him, to say, off the record, without microphones or cameras in his face, to say, "Look, man, I need you to be that leader."