Apr 12, 2019

  • Howard BryantESPN Senior Author

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    • Senior Writer, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine
    • Writer of "The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron"
    • Author of "Juicing the Game"

When in that location is chaos in the NFL, or at least drama, the Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders are a decent approximate to be the culprits. When information technology comes to losing players, the Browns could traditionally be counted on to watch their best play better for someone else. These negative characteristics have rarely been associated with Pittsburgh, a franchise that has won six Super Bowls and has had three coaches since the Vietnam War concluded. From players to coaches to ownership -- the Rooney family unit has owned the team since its inception in 1933 -- the Steelers have been the oasis of stability. They've been the rock, the family business concern that appeared to settle issues the old-fashioned manner, with common sense, dignity to both parties and a handshake.

Not anymore. Today'south Steelers are defined by grudge and grievance. They are defined past Mike Wallace, who in 2013 engineered his manner to the Dolphins -- the Dolphins whose one winning season since 2008 came in 2016, when Wallace was already 2 teams removed from them. They are defined by Antonio Brown, maybe the best wide receiver in the game today, who forced his way this March to the calming waters of -- yes -- the Raiders, the four-12, they-traded-Khalil-Mack Raiders. They are defined by Le'Veon Bell, who forfeited tens of millions of dollars he will very probable never recoup to land with the Jets, the iv-12 Jets who take finished in last place four of the past v years and haven't made the playoffs since 2011. They are defined by the fact that, over the by half-decade, 3 of their most talented skill players take been willing to absorb cocky-inflicted wounds to their reputations and their bank accounts with one objective in mind: to not play football for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Only maybe the wounds aren't so self-inflicted after all, for revolutions oft occur in the places where stability is mistaken for peace. The problem is the Steelers themselves. Over the past xx years, the three teams all-time known for being financially penurious accept been the Eagles, the Patriots and the Steelers. This reality is set against the larger backdrop: Football game players are exploited. Their bodies are disposable by the facts of the profession, the overwhelming financial advantages of the front end offices and the locker room adulthood civilization the players perpetrate, even equally it destroys their leverage. (Next Man Upwards, and commence eye curl.)

By not paying players, the Steelers are one of the teams that have been ripest for a player revolt. During Bong's holdout, which lasted the entire 2018 flavour, Wallace went on social media and referred to his own desire to earn his financial value within the curt window of an NFL career. However, this is non but a financial conflict only a racial/political/class 1, for the Steelers over the past few years have been both cheap and condescending. The team'due south full general director, Kevin Colbert, substantially said this offseason that QB Ben Roethlisberger was the simply adult in the room. "He has 52 kids in the room under him, quite honestly," Colbert said. It was a comment that revealed the underlying fractures that be in a football locker room, where black players are expected to perform without complaint, to be grateful for being "rescued" from the ghetto, and are spoken to with an insulting paternalism. Colbert spoke of Roethlisberger, who is at present 37, as bigger than his entire team. "If our players were smart," Colbert said, "they'd listen to him because he'south been there, he'southward done information technology."

To players such as Bell and Dark-brown, both currently as good if non meliorate at what they practise than Roethlisberger, information technology was a horrible insult. In 2018, Roethlisberger threw for a career-loftier 5,129 yards, merely 52 percent of his yards went to Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster. He is neither self-made nor infallible. Brown exposed the subtext to the conflict here when he tweeted in February that Roethlisberger had an "possessor'south mentality" -- an apparent reference to the quarterback's criticism of players without accepting any himself, as well equally appearing to align himself with the forepart office over his teammates.

The event now isn't whether the franchise can "movement on" from Bell and Brown, or whether its GM can heal a fractious locker room from his own asinine comments, but the organization'southward seeming unwillingness to ask itself the obvious: Why are its all-time offensive players actively trying to get out? The Steelers probably already know the answer: Roethlisberger is ane function of the problem. Colbert is another. If Brown were an isolated incident, perhaps the Steelers' response could be justified as add-on past subtraction. Simply existence cool with losing 2 Hall of Fame-level talents likely means the trouble lies in the mirror.