Pittsburgh Steelers: How Antonio Brown should be remembered

The Antonio Brown era in Pittsburgh is over. After nine seasons, Brown left his mark on the Steelers. He should be remembered appropriately.

Antonio Brown entered into Steelers history as a sixth-round pick out of Central Michigan, then catapulted himself to arguably the best receiver in football. The numbers he has put up are simply amazing, whether or not he had a future Hall-of-Famer as his quarterback.

Now west-coast bound, Brown will now try to build a rapport with Oakland’s signal-caller in Derek Carr. As the chapter of his Steelers tenure is slammed shut, we should remember Antonio Brown properly.

No, this doesn’t mean we should be burning his jersey. I myself own a Brown jersey and it’s going nowhere near a lighter or match. Please, donate or sell your jersey before you stupidly burn it. There are plenty of those who have nothing to wear that will gladly wear it.

Despite his exit, Brown left us with countless highlights, moments, and laughs. It’s okay to remember the time he tried to mount the field goal post on his punt return against the Colts. I laughed uncontrollably then, and it’s still funny now.

It’s okay to remember Brown as part of the “Killer B’s” that torched defenses for the better part of this decade. Brown set all kinds of franchise- and league-records during his tenure. His ability in the return game, the toe-taps along the sidelines, the runs after the catch, these are all things fans can hold onto when they think of Brown.

We can also remember the way he left. How he quit on his team for the last game of the season when the team told him to get an MRI done for his knee. He didn’t do it. He didn’t show up to walk-through. He had his agent call Mike Tomlin to say he was good to go. Then after Tomlin said he wasn’t playing, stood on the sidelines in his own clothes (not team issued), then left halfway through the game.

We can remember how he acted like a petulant child on social media every which way, calling ESPN’s Ryan Clark an “uncle Tom,” and his live Instagram posts with James Harrison in the middle of Mike Tomlin’s post-season press conference just to name a couple. And how could we forget Brown’s bashing of Ben and other Steelers’ members on The Shop and his ESPN interview.

He mutilated his trade value with his antics that made it nearly impossible to trade him for any legitimate value. And even when the Steelers apparently had a deal in place they were comfortable with, Brown refused to go to the Buffalo Bills, turning them off from any deal to be made with Pittsburgh.

We can remember the good times and the bad. We can remember just how great he was and remember how he burned more bridges than the city of Pittsburgh has on the way out of town.

Antonio Brown is at the end of his tenure as a Steeler now. For nine years, he was great, but never helped this team win a Super Bowl. When you talk about the greatest receivers in this franchise’s history, Brown may have most of the records, but he won’t have the ring the other greats do. And that lack of a ring may keep him away much longer after he calls it quits on the football field. He won’t fall into the same category as the Lynn Swanns, John Stallworths, and Hines Wards. Those guys have rings. Not just one, but multiple. Brown has records. Pittsburgh fans prefer rings over records.

It’s okay to miss him or despise him. Just remember him for everything he was.