Antonio Brown was one of the most electric football players in NFL history during his nine seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. As a sixth-round pick in the 2010 Draft, he had an uphill battle to see playing time and eventually earn the full-time starting job. In his second season, he had received over 1,000 yards and in his third season, he was the full-time starter on the outside.
In his second season, with 1,108 receiving yards, he only started three games, which is quite unusual given his statistics. Why didn’t they give him the starting job sooner given his production? He clarified some things as a guest on the most recent episode of The Pivot Podcast.
“Ryan Clark knows my relationship with Bruce Arians. How many years have you known Bruce Arians to stop me? Brown said, and Clark said, “It was a while.”
“Ben Roethlisberger is the only reason I started starting for the Steelers,” Brown said. “He literally had to go tell Bruce Arians, ‘Hey, I need AB at the X. Let him call these plays.'”
Brown was telling this story to give context to his infamous midgame exit as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when he tore off his jersey and pads, waved goodbye to the fans, and left the field.
It’s interesting to know his history with Arians, given that he signed with the Buccaneers in 2020 with Arians as head coach. It’s also interesting to hear that Roethlisberger needed to make the case for Brown to become a full-time starter on offense. He had already established himself as Roethlisberger’s favorite target with 74 goals in the first nine games of the 2011 season before his first start.
Perhaps it’s not a huge surprise that the Steelers moved on from Arians as their offensive coordinator after the 2011 season, with Antonio Brown clearly proving he deserved a larger role.
They also had Hines Ward, Mike Wallace and Emmanuel Sanders on the roster, so it wasn’t a huge surprise that a young sixth-round pick had to wait his turn to start. The relationship between Brown and Roethlisberger turned sour when Brown requested a trade, but both sides have since expressed regret over the way it all went down. In a previous interview, Brown said he “never realized how much fun he had,” while Roethlisberger said he hopes the two can reconnect.
Brown went on to rewrite the Steelers’ record books, racking up 837 receptions for 11,207 receiving yards and 74 receiving touchdowns in one of the most dominant eight-year stretches by a WR the NFL has ever seen.
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