No Way, Antonio Brown: Dez Bryant is All Wrong for the Pittsburgh Steelers

On Sunday, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown took to Twitter and wrote the following:

Come play with me @DezBryant let’s get the chip……….Eat Greedy……Big plates…….

Two words to that- No way!

Dez Bryant was a great talent at wide receiver.  For a period of three seasons from 2012-14, he managed to achieve over 1,000 yards per season receiving- 1,382, 1,233, and 1,320 yards, respectively- to go with a total of 273 catches.  That’s an average of 91 receptions per season.  But significant injuries in 2015 and 2016 led to seasons with only 401 and 796 yards receiving.  And in 2017, when he was able to start every game, Bryant was only able to nab 69 catches for 838 yards.  Not a terrible season, but hardly at the elite level he used to play at.  Further, Bryant was once a touchdown machine, but in 2017 was only able to accumulate six scores.

In other words, though he is talented, Bryant has become injury prone and appears to be on the downward end of a great statistical career, going into his ninth season.

So then you ask yourself, what does he bring to the Steelers if they were to get him at a good price?

First, wide receiver is not a position of need for the team.  They have the best wide receiver in the game in Antonio Brown, and JuJu Smith Schuster is a tall, strong wide receiver, similar to Bryant, who is on his way up.  Then there’s Eli Rogers, Justin Hunter, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Marcus Tucker, and James Washington to contend with.  Further, the team already has a veteran presence at the position in Brown, who is able to teach the younger receivers what to do.  And then of course there is the question as to whether Bryant even wants a mentor role.

Add in the fact that Steelers’ management doesn’t tend to go for players who have the ability to be locker room distractions, coupled with the fact that head coach Mike Tomlin has had some difficulty with locker room and off the field distractions from current players, and the idea of Bryant to the Steelers becomes even more outlandish.

In the end, it’s not surprising that Jim Wexell of the Pittsburgh Steelers on 247Sports reported on Monday that the Steelers aren’t interested in Bryant.   Simply put, they shouldn’t be.