Antonio Brown Solidifying Place as Top 5 NFL Wide Receiver
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown is becoming an inconvenient truth that can't be denied.
In a world that is supposed to be ruled by skyscrapers with limbs, the 5'10", 186-pound player continues to stand out more than anyone else. Brown leads the league in receptions with 115, yards with 1,498 and is tied for fourth place in receiving touchdowns with 11.
He isn't simply enjoying a random year of production. In his most recent outing, Brown became only the fourth receiver in NFL history to catch 110 passes or more in consecutive seasons.
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His 115 receptions through 14 games this season is the second most in NFL history. To finish with the second-most receptions ever in a single season, Brown needs just nine receptions over his final two games. Considering he has gone 30 consecutive games with 5-plus receptions and 50-plus receiving yards, he should comfortably reach that mark.
Brown hasn't been this player since he entered the league. In fact, he did very little during his rookie season. He spent most of his time battling Emmanuel Sanders for an active spot on game-day rosters early in the year, before both rookie receivers became more involved on offense over the second half of the season.
The 26-year-old's rookie year is reflective of how his career has gone to this point.
While the myth and legend of players' work rates can always be heard and discussed, the true measure of how a player works in the offseason and during weekly practices can be seen on the field. For someone such as Brown, that work rate has regularly been celebrated by his franchise and his fans, but it can also be clearly seen when he lines up on Sundays.
As a rookie, Brown was an electric runner with the ball in his hands who had the speed to be a very effective kickoff returner and could be used on certain plays with the offense.
During his second season, that speed was accompanied by an intensity and strength through more varied routes. His development continued to push him into a more prominent role with the offense. While featuring in all 16 games, Brown caught 69 passes for his first 1,000-yard season.
As is often the case, Brown's development wasn't linear. In his third season, he struggled with consistency and missed some time with injury. He didn't have a 100-yard receiving game throughout the whole season.
Brown's ceiling appeared to be reached. He had plateaued as a role player on a team that boasted wide receivers Hines Ward, Mike Wallace, Jerricho Cotchery and Sanders during his early years in the league. Simply earning a role on an offense with those players meant that he had exceeded the typical expectations of a sixth-round draft pick.
A typical sixth-round draft pick isn't what Brown was, though.
Instead of languishing in mediocrity, Brown came back for his fourth season, a season without either Wallace or Ward ahead of him, as a full-time starter and with a recently signed long-term contract. The Steelers had shown faith in his potential, and his work rate had turned that potential into ability.
In his fourth season, Brown caught 110 passes for 1,499 yards and eight touchdowns. His consistency and versatility were forcing analysts and fans alike to acknowledge his presence as a high-quality starting receiver. Of course, being a high-quality starting receiver is different from being one of the very best in the NFL.
Although it took him longer than his peers, Brown has finally solidified himself as one of the very best receivers in the NFL this season.
The production that Brown has achieved over the past two seasons reflects his rare skill set. A skill set that isn't typical of his peers but still just as effective. Brown isn't a towering 6'3"-plus player who largely relies on winning at the catch point to be effective in the NFL.
That's not to say Brown can't beat defensive backs at the catch point; he does with his ball skills, strength and quickness. Instead, it highlights his versatility and ability to avoid having to compete at the catch point by consistently creating separation in every area of the field.
Brown's two greatest physical strengths are his quickness and his balance.
Those two traits play a major role in making Brown an exceptional route-runner. He understands how to set up defenders to his liking while showing off precise, quick feet to get where he needs to be at the time he needs to be there.
On this long touchdown reception against the Baltimore Ravens, Brown is initially lined up alone to the right of the formation against press coverage. Chykie Brown is the defensive back covering Brown, a quicker rather than stronger defender in coverage.
Antonio Brown moves sideways at the snap without committing to any inside breaking route. After shifting inside, he plants his left foot hard to the ground to push back toward the sideline.
Antonio Brown is lined up outside of the numbers and is running a deep out route. As such, he needs to move Chykie Brown as far infield as possible at the snap. With his initial quickness and balance, the wide receiver is able to create a huge amount of space between him and the defensive back without moving away from where his route is supposed to begin.
Even though Chykie Brown was in position to press Antonio Brown at the snap from a head-on alignment, he was completely taken out of the play by the receiver's release.
When Antonio Brown goes through his break to turn toward the sideline, Chykie Brown is left in his wake. Crucially, Chykie Brown can't locate the football as it arrives, because he is still trying to recover from initially being beaten at the release.
Antonio Brown is able to make a comfortable catch on the ball but even more significant is his body control as he completes the catch.
Although he could have comfortably caught the ball without leaving his feet, Antonio Brown chose to do so because it allowed him to spin in midair and set his feet up to continue carrying the ball down the field. This is a dangerous play to make because it opens your body up to punishment, but the receiver clearly understood the situation.
Antonio Brown knew that Chykie Brown couldn't impact him while he was in the air because of where he was positioned on the field, while the deep safety wasn't in the vicinity yet.
Because of his success early in the route, Brown was able to hand off the first defender after angling back infield. He cut inside another defensive back who was working across the field, before high-kicking away from a desperation tackle to waltz into the end zone.
The veteran receiver made this play look relatively simple but only because of how refined a route-runner and special a physical talent he is.
Releasing from the line of scrimmage is a very important aspect of being a wide receiver, but it's only one aspect of route running. Brown also excels running through his breaks to create separation against tight coverage.
On this play, Brown is given a free release by Tennessee Titans cornerback Jason McCourty. Brown takes the free release and uses his acceleration to get inside of the defensive back. Brown could have attacked the defensive back's outside shoulder to create more space past his inside shoulder, but he didn't need to.
Brown knows that he is running a slow developing route, so getting into the route quickly is more important than taking the time to make it cleaner against this coverage.
McCourty is a longer, stronger cornerback rather than a shorter, quicker one. As such, Brown is able to get upfield ahead of him with relative ease. McCourty isn't perturbed by this, because the Titans are double-teaming Brown with a deep safety.
When he breaks past McCourty's inside shoulder, Brown is confronted by the deep safety. He almost comes to a complete stop in his route as he hesitates before exploding off of his right foot.
Brown breaks toward the sideline and has created a huge amount of separation away from the two defensive backs trailing him. Ben Roethlisberger finds him with an accurate, on-time pass, but even if he had been late, Brown had plenty of space and time to wait on the ball because of his route.
Against press coverage or extra attention, Brown has no issues with still producing. When teams are less aggressive with him, he has the consistency and explosiveness with the ball to be effective underneath.
The Atlanta Falcons weren't aggressive in their coverage of Brown last weekend. As a result, Brown caught all 10 of his targets for 123 yards. The Falcons were able to keep him out of the end zone, but that was more out of luck rather than a result of their game plan.
Ever since Todd Haley took over as the offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh, he has actively set about finding ways to put the ball in his receiver's hands on underneath throws. When the defense plays its defensive backs off the line of scrimmage, he is only encouraged to embrace this approach.
On this play, we can see that the Falcons aren't being aggressive underneath.
Brown takes one step downfield before turning back to his quarterback for the screen pass at the line of scrimmage. His speed allows him to turn the corner around his blocker coming from the inside to immediately get to the sideline.
David DeCastro and Maurkice Pouncey are two very athletic offensive linemen, and both play key roles in creating space for Brown down the field on these types of plays.
This may seem like a gadget play or the type of play that hinders your overall offensive output, but that's only the case when the particular receiver involved is limited in other areas. This aspect of Brown's play is just another option for the Steelers offense, not a way in which he has to be used.
On one of the rare occasions when the Falcons were aggressive with their coverage of Brown, he simply got an opportunity to show off his incredible ability at the sideline.
Working against one of the more talented cover cornerbacks in the NFL, Desmond Trufant, Brown was able to get to the sideline with relative ease despite being pressed at the line. Brown accelerated down the sideline behind Trufant, but Roethlisberger's pass led him out of bounds.
Brown was able to extend his hands away from his body to make the reception while dragging his feet to complete the catch.
Receivers who consistently make receptions at the sideline have to have their feet and hands working in tandem. To make this kind of play, Brown needed to show off outstanding focus and body control to maintain his balance. This is as difficult a catch that any NFL receiver can make.
If Roethlisberger had thrown the ball slightly more infield, Brown could have even turned this play into a touchdown.
The wide receiver position in the NFL is becoming like the running back position. It's not a difficult position to fill anymore, and the definition of an average player is being dragged upward because of the top-heavy talent base. No argument exists that pushes Brown outside of the top-10 receivers, but the top five will always be controversial.
By naming any combination of top-five receivers, you are guaranteed to leave out more than one of Calvin Johnson, A.J. Green, Julio Jones, Andre Johnson, Brandon Marshall, Jordy Nelson, Brown, Josh Gordon, Demaryius Thomas or Dez Bryant.
Those are the most popular names that are typically suggested for any top-five list.
If you narrow the criteria so that it only considers recent play, only this year or only the past two years, it becomes much more difficult to keep Brown out of the top five. Calvin Johnson has been absent a lot because of injury this year. Green, Johnson and Marshall have all seen their numbers dip, while Gordon spent most of this season selling cars.
Brown has the combination of consistent performance, production and an exceptional skill set that suggests he should have his spot amongst the very best receivers in the NFL solidified.
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