The Pittsburgh Steelers are 5-2 and have a two-game cushion atop the AFC North.
Imagine if they weren’t having tons of locker room drama.
Steelers reporter Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that receiver Martavis Bryant is a no-show to the team’s facility, skipping out on mandatory Monday meetings. One teammate told Bouchette that Bryant had “called in sick.”
Bryant had one catch for 3 yards in Pittsburgh’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday; he had one other target, a deep pass attempt.
This is the latest episode from Bryant, a fourth-round pick in 2014. On Sunday night, he trashed rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster on Instagram; when a commenter wrote to Bryant, “JuJu’s better,” Bryant wrote back, “Juju is no where near better than me fool all they need to do is give me what I want and y’all can have JuJu and who ever else.”
The comment has since been deleted.
But Bryant wrote to another person, “JuJu is the future and got great talent and is going to be one of the best to play this game. I want him to get his. I just want mines, period, point-blank. Ain’t nobody did nothing to get me back. I worked my ass off to get myself back with no help and little support, period. In due time the process will show.”
Last week, there was a report that Bryant or his agent requested that the Steelers trade him.
Bryant missed the entire 2016 season due to suspension for drug use. He has 18 catches for 234 yards and a touchdown this year.
The headaches with Bryant aren’t the only unrest in Pittsburgh. There was the turmoil that surrounded the team’s decision not to take the field for the national anthem in Chicago in Week 3, Ben Roethlisberger calling out receiver Antonio Brown on local radio after Brown threw a Gatorade cooler on the sideline, and then Roethlisberger, who has publicly talked about retirement, telling reporters, “maybe I don’t have it anymore” after a dreadful performance against Jacksonville in Week 5.
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