Mike Tomlin: Antonio Brown Hasn't Demanded Trade; Will Address Tweet with WR

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday Antonio Brown has not demanded a trade and will address the wideout's social media use with him.

"I'll address that and address that very directly with him," Tomlin said. "But I'll leave that between he and I."

Tomlin said he did not feel it's "appropriate" to discuss Brown's social media use publicly. The Pro Bowler tweeted at a former employee to "trade me" after the employee was critical of Brown following Sunday's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Drew Rosenhaus, Brown's agent, addressed the tweet in a statement to Adam Schefter, in which he said it is "not accurate" that the wide receiver wants to be dealt:

Brown was visibly upset throughout the game and got into an argument with offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner. He finished with nine receptions for 67 yards on 17 targets, second on the team behind JuJu Smith-Schuster. Tight end Jesse James led the Steelers with 138 receiving yards.

Ben Roethlisberger said on his weekly radio appearance on 93.7 The Fan that he doesn't believe Brown wants to be traded.

“That’s all these guys know, from the first phone they’ve had,” Roethlisberger said. “If you want to tweet things that’s fine, but where you get into trouble is responding...I don’t think he wants to be traded."

Brown was absent from Steelers facilities Monday. Tomlin indicated that was not an excused absence or something he expected.

With Le'Veon Bell remaining away from the team due to a contractual holdout, the Steelers now have their best two position players at odds with the franchise. That's not exactly a great start for a team that entered 2018 with Super Bowl hopes.