Antonio Brown "desperately wanted" tall wide receiver to play opposite him

We all knew that ben Roethlisberger wanted the Steelers to grab a tall wide reciever in the 2014 NFL draft. In fact, going by the narrative he's wanted one for most of the last decade.

However what we didn't know is that All-pro wide receiver Antonio Brown shared that desire.

Antonio Brown told me at Pro Bowl he desperately wanted tough tall WR opposite him. Asked him if Steelers gave him one. Said: "We'll see."

— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) June 5, 2014

Although the tweet is only 25 words long, it is extremely interesting.

First of all, it makes a lot of sense that Brown would want a big-bodied receiver opposite him. It opens up a lot more options for the offense and Roethlisberger, on deep passes and especially in the red zone.

In addition, having a "tough, tall" guy who can box out and out jump db's down the field forces the defense to respect that and adjust, taking away their ability put bracket coverage on Brown, something he has and surely will face this coming season

Second, if you wanted to really reach you could say it is Brown slighting former Steelers receiver Emmanuel Sanders and prohibitve favourite for a starting job this year Markus Wheaton. Both stand comfortably under 6 ft and perhaps Brown is irked by playing in a receiving corps that has been very short in stature his entire career.

However, that seems extremely unlikely. Brown himself stands only a modest 5 ft 10  from the ground and he would know better than anyone height isn't an indicator of success.

Finally, the "we'll see" portion. I presume he's alluding to the Steelers fourth round pick Martavis Bryant, standing at a lofty 6 ft 4, many hope Bryant can become the mythical tall saviour the Steelers receiving corps has been lacking.

Brown obviously isn't sold on Bryant yet, nor should he be considering one of the reasons Bryant fell to the fourth round was that he was very raw. In fact Bryant was reportedly chewed up earlier on in the week by Mike Tomlin for not finishing off a route in practice.

What we can tell is that Brown was excited about the prospect of having a tall, lengthy target playing opposite from him and what it could mean for the offense.

Hopefully in a couple of years time if Brown is asked the same question again his reply will be "definitely".