The NFL is chock full of divas at receiver. Dez Bryant’s locker room explosions. Terrell Owens’ infamous workout session in his driveway. And though Antonio Brown has an eccentric sense of fashion, he is one of the good, respectful players in the NFL.
Taking to Instagram, Brown sent out this sincere message to owner Dan Rooney.
Wow. It’s refreshing to see that humble point of view from someone who is arguably the top receiver in the NFL and has every reason to have a massive ego. While people like Johnny Manziel, Greg Hardy, and LeSean McCoy drive headlines, they make up a minority of the players in the NFL. Most players are great individuals who work hard to represent their team well, even if that doesn’t drive ratings or traffic.
The Steelers have numerous players like that. Arthur Moats, who has almost become as well-known for his community work as he is as a football player. And then there are ex-Steelers like Brett Keisel, who continued his Shear Da Beard event and raised over $70,000 for Childrens Hospital last week.
It’s true that to call any team a close-knit group is cliche and the Steelers are far from the only group with strong team bonds. But it’s important to highlight it and fun to see the group outside of a football setting. Over the weekend, many Steelers had front row seats to the UFC fight in Pittsburgh: Brown (who earned a shoutout from fighter Derek Brunson), Moats, Mike Mitchell, Ramon Foster, Alejandro Villanueva, DeAngelo Williams, and Doug Legursky were all present.
Side note: Villanueva worked on his best fighting stance, dwarfing Sage Northcutt and showing just how freaking’ big he is.
But back to the original point. Many teams preach a family mentality, and several teams practice it, but few – lead by the Rooneys – do it as well as the Pittsburgh Steelers.
