It’s safe to say Asante Samuel Sr. and Antonio Brown won’t be sending each other any Christmas cards this year. Taking to X/Twitter Friday morning, Samuel blasted Brown for his demeanor and attitude during his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“If Mike Tomlin never babied you @AB84 NFL would’ve been an after thought,” Samuel tweeted. “You couldn’t survive anywhere else. The Steelers organization and players allowed you to act crazy. Lucky you never played on my team. You would’ve been dealt with immediately and not by the coach. Facts!”
Blasted out to his more than 88,000 followers, Samuel’s tweet immediately drew widespread attention, especially from Steelers’ fans. And to be clear, this is the Atlanta Falcons’ cornerback who played from 2003-2013, not Samuel’s son currently a free agent.
Drafted by the Steelers in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft, Brown became one of the best Day Three picks in recent draft history. With Pittsburgh, Brown flourished into a seven-time Pro Bowler, four-time All-Pro, and the NFL’s best receiver for a multi-year stretch.
Mike Tomlin is credited as managing Antonio Brown’s off-field antics well. A short-temper who made waves on social media, including once filming a post-game speech, Tomlin kept problems under the surface longer than most coaches could. But even Tomlin couldn’t prevent issues from boiling over, leading to Brown skipping practice, being sat down, and requesting a trade after taking shots at Art Rooney II, Ben Roethlisberger, and JuJu Smith-Schuster.
After a deal with the Buffalo Bills didn’t materialize, Pittsburgh traded him to the Oakland Raiders. Jon Gruden found out how difficult Brown was to manage. He never played a down for the team with his lone summer full of drama and theater, leading to his release in early September. Brown then lasted one week with the New England Patriots after sexual misconduct allegations led to his release.
Brown found temporarily stability with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but infamously undressed and stormed off the field mid-game, exiting the stadium, getting into a car, and leaving. He hasn’t played an NFL snap since and his only football-related moves since involved running an Arena League team into the ground.
Samuel debated with fans if Brown was a top-ten receiver of all-time, hearing arguments but sharing his own list, a top eight with two vacant spots, that included Brown off it.
Deion Sanders also tweeted towards Brown, taking the Twitter high road after Brown took jabs at him, including sharing videos of him working over Sanders’ son Shilo years ago.
Just another day in Antonio Brown’s world. For Steelers’ fans, there isn’t much to say. Brown will go after anyone and everyone, even those who apparently had positive relationships with prior. A sad downfall to one of the most impressive careers, one overshadowed by everything that’s come after.
