Former NFL cornerback Joe Haden got the chance to both play with and against former Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown. His interactions in games and during practice clearly stood out to him as today on NFL Live Haden ranked Brown as the hardest wide receiver he ever went up against.
Haden spent most of his career on the Cleveland Browns, meaning he had to go up against Brown twice a year, and even with Haden was in his prime he rarely won those match ups. Even before Brown became a superstar, he had would have success against Haden.
From 2010-2013 before Brown became a top receiver and at the peak of Haden’s career, Brown’s stats versus Cleveland were 32 catches for 494 yards and two touchdowns while not being the team’s number one target for most of those years. Despite this he still put up monster numbers most of the time.
Even though Brown is not the most physically imposing receiver and doesn’t possess otherworldly speed, he was one of the best route runners to ever play the sport and rarely dropped passes. Because of this he posed a tough cover and caused Haden, and many other cornerbacks, fits.
Brown continued to torture Haden and the Browns after the 2013 season, but this was as Haden started dealing with injuries and his play started to decline. In 2017 Haden was cut by the Browns and subsequently signed by the Steelers. Haden’s play improved a lot when he got to Pittsburgh where he re-established himself as one of the premier cornerbacks in the league. Part of the reason for this may have been not having to go up against Brown twice a year when it matters, instead practicing against him.
While Brown’s off-the-field incidents seem to overshadow his playing ability nowadays, sometimes we have to remember how elite Brown was. From 2014-2018 he was arguably the best wide receiver in football, and in 2017 there was even talk of him winning MVP.
Haden was a great corner in his day, but Brown almost always got the better of him. It is no surprise that he named Brown as his toughest wide receiver cover.
