Bruce Arians spent Antonio Brown's first two NFL seasons as offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the new Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach doesn't see the same player he remembers.
"There's too much miscommunication, too much ... diva," Arians said Tuesday on The Adam Schefter Podcast, via ESPN. "I've heard so many stories -- I like Antonio -- he plays as hard as anybody on Sunday, and he practices hard. He's just gotta make better decisions off the field, be on time, do some of those little things."
Brown has generated a litany of off-field issues the past few years, from the Facebook Live incident in the locker room a few years back to skipping team practices prior to Week 17 and being held out of the game by Mike Tomlin.
Since the offseason ended, Steelers president Art Rooney II intimated Pittsburgh is actively considering trading the seven-time Pro Bowl receiver.
That "diva" receiver isn't the player Arians recalls coaching in 2010 and 2011.
"He was the hardest working," Arians said. "He and Emmanuel Sanders, boy they went after it because [Steelers head coach] Mike Tomlin used to tell them, 'Two dogs, one bone.' And at that time, we had Mike Wallace, Hines Ward -- I mean, we had a pretty good run for one of them to get on the field. By the end of the season, they were both winning for us to go to the Super Bowl."
Like Sanders and Wallace, Brown might find himself playing in a new jersey.
UPDATE: It should be no surprise that Antonio Brown responded to Arians' comments -- and former teammate Emmanuel Sanders' statements on NFL Network this past weekend -- later Wednesday on Twitter.
He didnât draft me he drafted @ESanders_10 same guy who missed rehab to go on networks to talk about me on situation he have zero clue! Arians now wears kangoo hats n glasses �� but ima diva! Done seen it all then they say we friends stop lien https://t.co/jALXyhQMAw
â Antonio Brown (@AB84) January 16, 2019
