Steelers 2018 Minicamp Day 1: Antonio Brown’s odd offseason continues

The life of an NFL player isn’t as easy and breezy as many might assume. Some heavy burdens are placed on the broad shoulders of these men who play a brutal game for a living, and sometimes the weight of those demands might become too much.

This offseason for the Pittsburgh Steelers has been relatively quiet (I just knocked on wood for those superstitious readers out there), but one player has seemed “off” on more than one occasion. It shouldn’t surprise anyone this player is the same one who puts himself out there most often on several social media platforms.

None other than Antonio Brown.

When a player as prolific as Brown is as active as he is on social media, you’re given a front-row view into his life. The workouts, the meals, the family — everything. After a while, a player can feel as though he lives in a fish bowl, with everyone peering in. But again, that’s a self-imposed impression.

Brown could just as easily not be so active on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, but he’s building something bigger than the Steelers and football. At least for him, he’s building a brand. If you’re like me and you follow AB on almost all of those platforms, you’ve noticed some very strange behavior going on the past few weeks. Let’s just say the man is dealing with some stuff off of the field.

Regardless, though, this has never stopped Brown from showing up and being his best on game days. Yet, that’s exactly what happened after the team’s first two Organized Team Activities (OTAs) workouts, when Brown didn’t show for the final eight sessions. Even though they’re voluntary, this was very unlike Brown. On the first day of minicamp, Brown showed up and did a lot of talking.

Take a look at some of his media session Tuesday:

Rather than try to decipher what Brown said to reporters, you can take a look at what they posted after the media session regarding why Brown missed OTAs, who’s to blame and other tidbits from the All-Pro receiver:

So, there’s a lot to digest here, and none of it really even revolves around the sport of football. After the media session and practice, Brown explained himself in further detail to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

The team did practice today, and there wasn’t much actual news coming out of the session...not after Brown spoke prior to practice. Nonetheless, take a look at some other stuff that went down after Minicamp Day 1.

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