Steelers WR Brown practices hard, need to make better decisions off field: Arians

New Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians used to have a close-up view of Pittsburgh star wide receiver Antonio Brown when he served as the Steelers' offensive coordinator. Now his view is from afar, and he isn't so impressed with Brown's actions or behavior. "There's too much miscommunication, too much ... diva," Arians said Tuesday on The Adam Schefter Podcast. "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."

Arians was around for Brown's first two seasons in Pittsburgh. The Steelers drafted Brown in the sixth round out of Central Michigan in 2010 and Arians was impressed with his hunger to become good. "He was the hardest working," Arians said. "He and Emmanuel Sanders. Boy, they went after it because (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." Arians left the Steelers following the 2011 campaign to become offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts. He served as interim head coach for most of 2012 while Chuck Pagano was battling cancer, was the Arizona Cardinals head man from 2013-17 and sat out the 2018 season before becoming head coach of the Buccaneers. Meanwhile, Brown's future in Pittsburgh is uncertain after his Week 17 antics infuriated the organization. Brown reportedly skipped meetings and practices and didn't return Tomlin's calls. When Brown showed up for the regular-season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals, Tomlin informed him that he wouldn't be playing. Last week, team president Art Rooney II said it would be "hard to envision" Brown being part of the team when it opens training camp in July.