Once the 2018 season was over, reports suggested that the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ owner, Art Rooney II, and former wide receiver, Antonio Brown, sat down to mutually part ways. The decision came as a shock, considering Brown was still the best receiver in the league at that time. Fast forward to now, and two-time Super Bowl champion LeSean McCoy has added another layer to Brown’s departure from Pittsburgh, citing another reason.

“He (Brown) didn’t want to leave Pittsburgh. That’s the real truth. The real truth is, he loved Pittsburgh. He never wanted to leave Pittsburgh, and he felt like they didn’t truly value him,” McCoy said on Speakeasy. “They gave (the Steelers team MVP) to Juju (Smith-Schuster), which sounds crazy when Brown’s on your team.

“And then your future Hall of Fame-calibre quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, who they basically babied for years when he declined. And AB, say what you want about him, he always was productive. He always was a hard worker. So, all these things are going downhill for him, and now they asked him to leave. He was mad about that. So, that’s the truth. The truth is, he was made to leave Pittsburgh.”

A former sixth-round pick of the 2010 NFL draft, Brown had a strong on-field relationship with Roethlisberger, especially from 2011 to the 2018 season. During the stretch, the receiver had 11,040 yards, 74 touchdowns, and 821 catches, while leading the NFL. On top of that, he also made seven Pro Bowls and was a four-time first-team All-Pro.

But things went downhill after the Week 12 matchup in the 2018 season against the Denver Broncos. Roethlisberger finished the game after a game-ending interception. In the aftermath, however, the quarterback went on his radio show and criticized Brown’s route-running.

“All year, the dude called me out. We lose a game, he’s like, ‘Damn, AB should have run a better route.’ … That’s the type of guy he is,” Brown revealed. “He feels like he’s the owner. Bro, you threw this s–t to the D-line. How the f–k am I going to run a better route? You need to give me a better ball!”

But Brown’s relationship with Roethlisberger reached a boiling point after the receiver had a reported feud with his quarterback in practice ahead of the season finale. Brown went on to miss multiple practices, and the Steelers eventually benched him for the Week 17 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals.

But McCoy has now emphasized that while the Steelers traded Brown following the 2018 season, they “babied” Roethlisberger even after he declined in the following seasons. The quarterback missed the entire 2019 season after suffering an elbow injury in Week 2 of the season.

While he returned to play in 2019, his deep ball accuracy took a major hit. For a broader context, Roethlisberger had a completion rate of over 45% from the 2015 season through the 2018 season. After the first 10 weeks in 2020, however, the numbers dropped to just 43.2%.

He had finished his 2018 season with over 5,000 yards and 34 touchdowns. In the final two seasons following his injury, the quarterback failed to surpass the 4,000 mark. While it’s true that Ben Roethlisberger still led the Steelers to the playoffs, his injury took a major hit on his deep ball accuracy and completion rate, with his age also playing a major factor.

Brown, meanwhile, was still at the peak of his career when the Steelers traded him, having recorded six consecutive 1,000+ yard seasons. But the Steelers traded him to the Oakland Raiders, where he didn’t play a game. And after a brief stop in New England, the veteran joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he won his maiden Super Bowl, before eventually hanging up his cleats.