The Renegade: An Off Season of Bells and Browns

The Steelers are on of the NFL's best and most respected franchises, but their image became smeared in the past two seasons where most fans, media, and the rest of the league looked at them as the NFL's very own Kardashians (thank you, Jesse James, for coining that). Every week brought a new headline dealing with drama that the team could not overcome. The Steelers failed to make the playoffs after finishing 9-6-1 in what seemed to be their lowest point in the past decade.. then came in like a Miley Cyrus wrecking ball the 2019 offseason of Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell. I was often of the opinion that the drama surrounding the Steelers was overblown and not what the media made it out to be, but this off season with the actions of AB finally made me embarrassed as a fan. But what if I told you (imagine ESPN's 30 for 30 introduction voice), the Steelers will only be better off now that Brown and Bell are gone? It is easy to say they will have a healthier locker room, but what if I told you they will also be better on the field? Bear with me, as I defend my statement.

Departures of Bell and Brown

Antonio Brown

In a city known for its bridges, I didn't know if there would be any left standing after all the bridges AB burned on his way out of Pittsburgh. AB went from being the darling of the city to being the definition of a JAG OFF in less than a year. Over the past 5 seasons, AB has been one of the top receivers in the game and has won many games for the Steelers over the years with his Tony toe-tapping abilities and goal line reaches, and his production will be very difficult to replace; however, I believe the Steelers have the pieces and made the right off season moves to adequately replace AB. Many people will call me crazy for thanking they can replace Brown's insane production, but receivers are easily interchangeable in the NFL (Just like Plaxico Burress, Hines Ward. Santonio Holmes, Emmanuel Sanders, Mike Wallace, and Martavis Bryant, did I miss anyone?). One of the biggest issues the Steelers had in 2018 was Big Ben trying to force the ball to AB, which led to Ben having SIXTEEN interceptions. With AB gone, the Steelers will have a more diverse offense spreading the ball around to more options and utilizing their running backs such as James Conner and Jaylen Samuels more in the passing game (oh yea, there is also that JuJu guy who is pretty dang good at catching the football).

Stage Exit: Huge ego, high production, cry baby.

Stage Entrance: More diverse offense, high character players, hungry to play for this city. Sign me up for the latter, and I am sure excited to see how it plays out. Adios, AB!

Le'Veon Bell

Ahh Le'Veon, we almost forgot about you since you have no been around for a while. Unlike AB, I still have some respect left for Bell because he made it clear it was all about the money from the start unlike AB who tried to hide his true intentions with crazy behaviors. I may still have some respect for Bell, but I laughed out loud at his poor judgement and how he ended up with less money in the end. Also, did you hear the rumors now how the Jets are thinking of trading him?? Hannah Montana said everybody makes mistakes, but Le'Veon sure makes a lot of them. With Bell departure, how will we replace his All-Pro production? Oh wait, that's right, we already have that answer because he didn't play last year! Give me James Conner and Jaylen Samuels (and maybe Benny Snell?) ANYDAY over the troublesome Bell. 

Stage Exit: A wanna be rapper, who has not played football for over a year, who does have a lot of talent.

Stage Entrance: Young, fresh, high character running backs who want to play for this city, and do nor forget one of those RBs was just a pro bowler this last season and has a history of beating cancer. You tell me, what scenario would you want on your team?

A Brown's Off Season

Don't worry, I'm not going to talk about AB anymore; this Brown's segment is to talk about the Cleveland Browns and how they have turned into America's pick to be at the top of the NFL next year. Media and NFL fans are already crowning the Browns the kings of the AFC North and a Super Bowl contender, but the Browns should be careful and learn from the Steeler's mistakes. The Browns have a ton of talent incoming, especially with the duo of Baker Mayfield and Odell Beckham Jr, but with these two players comes a lot of drama (sound familiar?). In addition, the Browns have a new first year head in Freddie Kitchens and have a lot of new pieces to the team that will need time to mesh. These reasons are why I am pumping the brakes on the Browns hype train and still believe the Steelers are the team to beat in the division. The Steelers are going to be more hungry to win this season and they finally have the motivation they need to put consistent performances together. Fans and media forget that this team is full of proven pro bowlers and a hall of fame QB who is going to want to prove himself now that AB is gone. We will revisit the misplaced hype behind the Browns as the season gets closer and throughout the seasons as we hopefully confirm our thoughts. 

So with this article, I bid my final Adieu to AB and Bell, and wish both of you absolutely zero luck in the rest of your NFL career (Boy, bye!). It is time to get back to being one of the most respected franchises in the NFL and the Steelers are finally in the right direction after these two departures. 

Don't think the Steelers are going to be better without AB and Bell? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

-Aaron, TGYK