Antonio Brown’s stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers ended abruptly due to many locker room issues. However, he was one of the best wide receivers in the league when he was under coach Mike Tomlin. After leaving the team, things have not gone down well for the wide receiver, as his off-field issues led him to eventually decide to leave the NFL.

The resentment surrounding his chaotic exit from the Steelers still seems bitter. It has been eight years since we last saw Antonio Brown on the field with the Steelers, yet, when it comes to his former teammate JuJu Smith-Schuster getting the team MVP in 2018, Brown remains salty as ever. 

“Imagine if the NFL hate on you like that. What would you do if your own team betray you?” Brown ranted in a recent TikTok live. “They tried to make the number two be better than you. Yalla bye! Go sleep, Steelers. How you give a guy who fumbled our season the f*****g MVP? Know why? Because you’re jealous of AB.” 

In Week 16 of the 2018 season, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster suffered a devastating fumble against the New Orleans Saints that essentially crushed the Steelers’ playoff hopes. Despite the brutal turnover, Smith-Schuster was later voted the 2018 Steelers Team MVP by his peers in the locker room. That’s where the roots of Brown’s frustration lie. After all, it would’ve been his fifth MVP award had the Steelers voted for him. 

In 2018, JuJu and Brown were one of the most dangerous WR duos in the league. They became the fifth teammate combination in NFL history to both record 100+ catches and 1,200+ receiving yards in the same season. Smith-Schuster has never been able to replicate similar stats in his career since. Brown had a big part to play in the player becoming a special talent, as he took Smith-Schuster under his wing when the Steelers drafted him.

Brown’s anger is also shrouded by the current face of the franchise. The 32-year-old linebacker T.J. Watt surpassed Brown with five Pittsburgh Steelers Team MVPs (2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2024)

“That would’ve been my fifth one,” he continued. “They let T.J. Watt pass me up on MVPs for the Steelers. I was there when T.J. Watt was crying. I’m just like, ‘Brother, we have the same news. You’re not like J.J. Watt, boy. You may be like him. Ask JJ Watt if he’s somebody like me.”

T.J. Watt was drafted by the franchise in 2017. By then, Brown was already one of the best WR’s in the league. They spent two seasons together in Pittsburgh, where the franchise won 22 games in the regular season, but failed to register good performances in the postseason.

While the two specifically never had any tiffs, this specific 2018 MVP vote served as the ultimate catalyst for Brown to leave the franchise. It completely broke Brown’s trust in the coaching staff and the locker room, directly leading to him demanding a trade in the 2019 offseason. And he seems to genuinely believe that the Steelers betrayed him. 

Since leaving the Steelers, Brown has criticised Smith-Schuster several times. He even appeared on The Jason Whitlock show to express the frustration he had with his former rookie.

“I was getting too much scrutiny. Then they brought another young receiver who they was making it seem like he could be what I am,” Brown said. “Imagine the trauma, and that’s why I started this. Imagine the trauma you gotta deal with when you’ve been great for an organization for so long, and now you’re realizing they’re trying to make somebody else you and they’re trying to push you aside based on media writeups.”

Brown did not just have words for T.J. Watt and JuJu Smith-Schuster. It also extended to Hines Ward.

Antonio Brown fires shots at fellow Steelers WR, Hines Ward

Of course, if we look at the WR history at the Steelers, Brown and Ward might be the most successful ones. But according to Brown, he was comparatively better than his rival. To prove his point, he dragged in both of their partnerships with Ben Roethlisberger as the quarterback. 

“If you compare oranges to apples, they’re all fruits. They’re all good fruits, they all have different results and different ingredients and different calories and different little measurements and stuff that make it,” Brown said in a TikTok live. “But if you are comparing 86 to 84, let’s compare. How many touchdowns does Hines Ward have with Ben Roethlisberger as his quarterback?” 

Ward and Roethlisberger won two Super Bowls together. The former caught a pivotal 43-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger in Super Bowl XL, ultimately winning the Super Bowl MVP award. The WR spent his entire career with the Steelers and was able to complete 12,083 yards and 85 touchdowns.

Meanwhile, Brown’s first nine seasons in the league were with the Steelers. He was able to register over 1,000 yards in seven of these seasons, and also made 74 touchdowns. While these are brilliant numbers, there is no doubt that the two Super Bowl wins and playing with the franchise his entire career have helped Ward become a special name in Pittsburgh.

And as Brown continues to yell at his camera about grievances from 2018, the Pittsburgh organization is fully focused on the current 2026 season. They are attempting to build a championship roster around their historic defensive core. T.J. Watt is currently cementing his legacy as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.