Antonio Brown's Antics Reportedly 'Wearing Thin' on Steelers Teammates, Coaches

Antonio Brown is reportedly frustrating the Pittsburgh Steelers. According to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Brown's antics are wearing thin on some of his teammates and certainly his coaches." 

As Bouchette noted, however, the Steelers previously promised Brown they would negotiate a contract with him this year and likely won't find a compelling enough reason to reverse course: 

"

While Brown may ruffle some feelings, he never let it affect his play and he remains one of the hardest workers on the team—and has not missed a game to injury the past four seasons, except for the concussion sustained in the 2015 postseason.

Without Brown, the Steelers really have no receivers they can count on. And drafting even a good one guarantees nothing.

Nope, it would appear they have to swallow hard, sign him and hope he continues to perform as one of the NFL’s best receivers as he turns 29, and that his antics are limited to those they can live with.

"

Brown raised eyebrows earlier in January when he used Facebook Live to stream the postgame speech that Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin delivered following Pittsburgh's 18-16 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs. The Steelers ultimately fined Brown $10,000.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported that Facebook Live had encouraged Brown to stream from the locker room, while Ian Rapoport of NFL.com said that Brown reportedly has a six-figure marketing deal with Facebook.

Brown's actions violated the NFL's social media policy, and he later apologized for the incident.

But other reports have also called into question Brown's motivations. Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL Network reported that Brown pouted and hung his head after DeAngelo Williams scored a touchdown against the Chiefs while Brown was open in the back of the end zone.

And Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk reported that such an incident isn't new: "Last year, Tomlin had to sit Brown down and tell him to stop chasing statistics, and that his only concern should be winning championships."

When Ben Roethlisberger was asked about that during an interview on 93.7 The Fan, he didn't exactly dispute those claims.

"He's one of the best in the business, and the plays that he makes and has made over his career are so special," Roethlisberger said in the interview, per Chris Hopkins of PennLive.com. "I think sometimes that overshadows the extra stuff: the hands up, the arms up, the frustrations, the pouting, the things like that."

Wide receivers being cast as divas who want the ball on every play is not a new idea, of course. In fact, it's one of the game's more resilient stereotypes. And Brown is arguably the best receiver in football after catching 106 passes for 1,284 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2016. It was his third straight season with at least 100 catches, 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns.

More than that, Brown—outside of perhaps Roethlisberger and Le'Veon Bell—is Pittsburgh's best and most important player. It seems unlikely that the team would entertain the notion of cutting ties with him unless he became an enormous distraction.

At this point, it seems more likely that the Steelers are filing his behavior in the "unwanted but manageable nuisance" bin.