To say the past year has been a tumultuous one for Antonio Brown would be a massive understatement. The embattled receiver has been on a very bumpy path, and he recently gave his first interview to local Pittsburgh media since leaving the Steelers to clarify some things. Brown went on 93.7 with hosts Chris Mack and Colin Dunlap, and Adam Bittner of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette transcribed his comments.
Throughout the interview Brown struck a much more conciliatory and restrained tone than he often has on social media. He took the time to apologize to the Steelers and even to his former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Yes, you read that right. “I apologize to those guys for the distractions. The unwanted attention I probably caused those guys. To the fans and organization,” Brown said. “So I’m forever grateful and indebted to the organization. Mr. Rooney. Mike Tomlin. Kevin Colbert. Ben Roethlisberger. You know I started my career with those guys. A lot of beautiful moments. A lot of amazing things. So it’s not all bad,” he continued.
Brown was a surprising inactive in Week 17 of 2018, and things rapidly deteriorated from there. There were a lot of reports about what happened for Brown to get benched, including one that he threw a football at Roethlisberger in practice that week. Brown didn’t explain exactly what went down, but he did seem to take issue with the reporting. “For me, the last game, I had some adversity, but it was just time to move on. To do something more positive. I just was emotionally drained and just frustrated about how everything went down. A lot of stuff go down and people don’t know what really happens. People just write about it and make assumptions. But people don’t know the truth of what the emotions and what players really go through.”
Brown also seemed to reveal that the reason he wanted out of Pittsburgh was because he didn’t think they were serious enough about winning a championship. “I just think we had a lot of things that were important to individuals, but it wasn’t really important to do the big thing, which was win the Super Bowl. So for me, I’m getting to the point where I’m older in my career, and the things that were important to me were winning,” he explained. “At the point I was at, I was just felt like ‘Man, guys on the team wasn’t really ready push to go get what was important, so for me it was all about getting that next carry and being able to be a winner.”
Speaking on his recent arrest and court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, Brown downplayed it and said he doesn’t have any mental health issues. “I’m pretty good man. Those guys put me in a crazy check, and I don’t even know why they did that. But I just think mental health is really important.” Brown also suggested that not playing football this season was responsible for most of his erratic behavior. “I don’t really have anger. I just think I’m really bored. You know, football keeps a lot of my focus. And not being able to have that thing that took my energy, that put my focus toward allowed me to be bored and react to things I wouldn’t normally react to.”
The full comments are worth a read, as Brown also talked about his relationship with former teammates like JuJu Smith-Schuster. Brown clearly wants to keep playing football, but obviously he’s got a lot to sort out first.
It’s tough to open a door you locked
I would simply unlock the door
There’s no key to that clown’s door.
Tough to know how much of this is an act to try to get back into the league and how much he is serious about it.
Its all an act!!! Read the whole article. He is a whack job
CTE.
cte takes time to set in and male itself known. This seems more like a grown man who’s never been disciplined a day in his life
Know how to follow players on here, how do I unfollow? Like block all Antonio Brown news?
Dont click on the article that has his name in the headline?
That makes too much sense though
the guy has a point though. even seeing them is irritating.
Don’t look at the next car accident you pass by.
I’m a die hard Steelers fan and am hoping for an AB revival in Pittsburgh! Maybe my man Martavis can come back too!
Bro what?
Ironic that he would say that other Steelers players pretty much cared about themselves and act like he wasn’t bitter as can be about Juju winning team mvp in 2018. He didn’t care about winning, he cared about himself and getting paid. Good riddance AB. You ruined what was a HOF career
WHO CARES! Almost like a half apology ….. BUT, ………..OWN IT!!!!
Publicity stunt trying to repair his destroyed image…doesn’t strike me as sincere and more of something his publicist put him up to and gave him things to say
A half apology or more like not an apology at all. You can’t say I’m sorry and then follow it with it wasn’t my fault. These are shots in the dark hoping to get back in the league. He tried it with the Patriots and it didn’t work
“Those guys put me in a crazy check, and I don’t even know why they did that.”
Really AB. Ya don’t know why? Take a look at some of the crap you post on Twitter. Take a look at some of the videos you created. It is pretty easy to see why they’d check on your mental health and if you don’t see that you are stupid on top of everything else.
I don’t know guys ,his ebonics are pretty good , he doesn’t even know how messed up he is!!!
This man went to college!!!!!!
And I weep for the American education system
CTE?
His erratic behavior should be taken as a “call for help” by his friends, family and agent. They should take the necessary steps to have AB physically get his head examined to be sure that there isn’t anything wrong up there due to the rigors of football. Follow that up with a complete physical and then a visit with a mental health professional.
Does this mean we can be friends with white women again?
“I just think mental health is really important.”
Where on Amazon can I find that T-shirt with a picture of Antonio Brown above the lettering?
Lmao
If Aaron Hernandez had the brain of a 52 year old when he was 26/27 at his passing, who’s to say AB doesn’t have a ping pong ball of a brain with all of the hits he has endured?
I like how the reason for his behavior is “I get really bored”.
Crazy people never realize they are crazy. If they did realize it then they wouldn’t be considered crazy.
The Steelers? Not serious about winning a championship?
Would you all forgive him if the sexual assault accusations are untrue? Additionally, if he publicly stated he has a diagnosed mental disorder and has begun taking medication for?
I think I would. Unfortunately, the sexual assault is more likely to be true than not based on what I’ve read. Could a mental health issue contributed to that sexual assault mind frame? Yes, but accountability must he held.
AB is a rare talent. It’s too bad he’s gone down the road he has, regardless of reason.