Antonio Brown knows what he wants to do next when it comes to his NFL career. The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver went to Twitter to announce that he wants to retire as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. In another tweet, Brown clarified and said that he just wants to retire as a member of the Steelers and not play for them.
Brown was a member of the Steelers from 2010 to 2018 before joining the Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots and Buccaneers. In 2020, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin appeared on ESPN’s First Take and was asked if he would bring back Brown before he signed with the Buccaneers in the fall.
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“I’ll say this: once a Steeler, always a Steeler,” Tomlin said, per CBS Sports. “We had great success over the course of nine-plus years with Antonio. We’re always going to be interested in his growth and development as a man and we’ll be open to assisting him in that, but we have no current business interest at this time.”
Brown has had unhealthy exits with multiple teams, including the Steelers as he forced the team to trade him to the Raiders and criticized them during the 2018 season. Brown didn’t play a down for the Raiders because of multiple issues including verbally attacking then-general manager Mike Mayock. He was released from the Patriots after one game for sexual assault allegations. And when Brown was with the Buccaneers in January, he walked out of a game due to an altercation with head coach Bruce Arians.
“We all love him. We care about him deeply. We want to see him be at his best. Unfortunately, it won’t be with our team,” Buccaneers quarterback Brady said at the time, per ESPN. “I think everyone should be very compassionate and empathetic toward some very difficult things that are happening.”
Brown, 33, was selected in the sixth round by the Steelers in the 2010 NFL Draft. He put together a strong career during his time with the Steelers, being named to the Pro Bowl seven times and the All-Pro Team four times. Brown also led the NFL in receptions and yards twice and helped the Buccaneers win the Super Bowl during the 2020 season. In his career, Brown has caught 928 receptions, 12,291 yards and 88 total touchdowns.
