The advent of social media has opened a whole can of worms for the NFL. While some players avoid social media or opt to have a third party manage their pages, others will post their own content. Sometimes that content can be unsavory. Pittsburgh Steelers S DeShon Elliott found himself in hot water recently due to a post on his Instagram page.
“I’m just not trying to get canceled, bro,” Elliott said via Marlon Humphrey’s Punch Line Podcast, recapping his recent troubles on social media. “I’ve said some wild things here the last couple of weeks, bro. I’m trying to keep my image together. I put out this one post. This meme account had tagged me and T.J. Watt in this account, and it was a picture of Coach [Mike] Tomlin on the face of Osama Bin Laden.
“I put it in our group message because I thought it was funny. I put it in my dump [on Instagram]. Me, I genuinely post what I want to post. I say what I want to say. I didn’t think it was going to get any backlash because it was funny. Then all of a sudden it blew up everywhere.”
Needless to say, that kind of content was a lightning rod of attention to DeShon Elliott. It blew over pretty quickly, but it wasn’t the best look, even if he was just reposting somebody else’s meme. Some things may be best for the group chat, and not for public consumption.
The NFL is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and TV deals (and therefore advertisers) account for a large portion of the league’s earnings. Apparently, Elliott’s post caused concerns with companies or sponsors of some sort, which then worked their way up the chain to Steelers president Art Rooney II.
“Finally Mr. Rooney, I think he was getting letters to his house, something like that from certain companies that he knows very well. And so then the GM [Omar Khan] reached out to my agent and had me delete it,” Elliott said.
It was a bizarre thing to have pop up on social media that week leading up to the Steelers’ back-to-back games against New York teams.
Social media is a great thing for players to build their personal brands and followings for life after football, but it can be a double-edged sword. Players get a ton of attention by default, so any mistake on social media can get picked up by news outlets all over the country. Elliott got a lesson in exactly how that can work.
It seems like Elliott is now trying to paint within the lines with his public image, though this interview with Marlon Humphrey is pretty unfiltered and full of funny stories that you wouldn’t normally hear from an NFL player. Those two played together in Baltimore, so they discussed the upcoming matchup between the two teams. Elliott certainly has a big personality.
DeShon Elliott has been one of the Steelers’ best additions for the 2024 season. He’s been a steady force at strong safety, and recently drew high praise from Bill Cowher, who compared some aspects of his game to Troy Polamalu. As long as he can stay out of the spotlight for the wrong reasons, he should be a candidate for a contract extension this offseason after signing a two-year, $6 million deal in free agency last year.
