The Pittsburgh Steelers had to deal with a lot of internal drama throughout the Killer B's era. Antonio Brown was constantly in the news for something controversial, while Ben Roethlisberger would throw his teammates under the bus on public radio. Eventually, Brown threw one last fit as a Steelers player, which resulted in him being benched, then traded to the then-Oakland Raiders. Roethlisberger would later cancel his radio show in an attempt to be a better teammate, but by that point, the damage had been done.
One of their former teammates, Kameron Canaday, appeared on the Keep Hammering Collective podcast with Cameron Hanes to talk about his time with the Steelers. He was with the team from 2017-2020, so he saw a lot the drama that went on, and he has a theory as to why Brown and Roethlisberger could not get along as teammates.
"[Antonio Brown] is one of the hardest working motherf------ I've ever been around in my entire life... This is during camp, when guys were trying to work their absolute a-- off to make the team, and he's still blowing everyone out of the water [physically], still outworking them. The guy had a motor, he didn't slow down, and he was like that for 16 weeks, and I think that's probably why him and Ben [Roethlisberger] probably got into it a little bit, because Ben had his two Super Bowls, and he got banged up, and Ben would sit out a little bit. He just liked to take it easy until Sunday. He kind of earned it, but when Antonio Brown was running routes for second and third stringers, and then he's not getting that connection on Sundays, yeah, he's going to start freaking out. That's kind of what he did, which I don't blame him for, because he's got that Michael Jordan mindset."
It was no secret that Brown had a massive chip on his shoulder, and he would stop at nothing to prove that he was the best receiver in the league. It was also no secret that Roethlisberger would take full advantage of his veteran's day off whenever he could. Brown had that "first in, last out" mentality, while Roethlisberger would relax as much as possible during the week.
At the end of 2018, Brown and Roethlisberger had a heated argument during a walkthrough, which led to Brown skipping practice for the rest of the week. The Steelers called it a knee injury to Brown, but that was quickly found to be false. He was benched for that Week 17 game, and because the Steelers missed the playoffs, Brown would not get another chance to play for the team again.
Steelers Greats Have Mended Their Relationship
Since Brown had his final fit and was traded away, there have been multiple instances of Brown praising Roethlisberger and vice versa. While many bridges have been burnt with the team, Brown seems to be at peace with how things went down between him and Roethlisberger. On the field, they were an unstoppable force that led the best offense in football for half a decade.
In the end, Brown expected others to have that same "Michael Jordan mindset" that he had. Instead, the quarterback and leader of his team was more focused on resting up his body after more than a decade of being hit and beaten. That differing philosophy, as well as Brown's volatile personality, resulted in the two legends being unable to work together anymore. The Steelers sided with their franchise quarterback, and Brown was traded away for just pennies on the dollar.
