Antonio Brown Inquires If Steelers Need a WR Coach; Fans Urge Him to Replace George Pickens

Should Antonio Brown make a comeback to the Pittsburgh Steelers? Well, the fans seem enthralled by the idea of the former player returning to the Coal City, where he spent 8 years of his NFL career.

It all started with an X post from AB, where he offered his service to his former team, the Steelers, amidst their receiver troubles. Zach Azzanni, hired as the WR coach this season, hasn’t been able to get the best out of the wideout room.

Witnessing this, Brown uploaded his picture on X with the question of whether the Pittsburgh team is looking for a WR coach. His post immediately hooked all Steelers fans, who instead of agreeing with him, pleaded with Brown to take up a receiver role.

The desperate wish seems reasonable with the kind of receiving room situation the Steelers are facing. George Pickens leads with just 310 yards, followed by tight end Pat Freiermuth with 178, and Calvin Austin with merely 129 yards.

Recalling these numbers, fans started pouring in their requests:

A user shared his his agreement to AB’s question, just dropping a piece of advice to the former NFL star:

AB’s formula of receiving during his playing days was simple- “get open”, upon which he built a Hall of Fame-worthy career, amassing over 12k yards. So the fans were quick to point that out and joked that Coach AB’s advice would simply be, “Get open and catch the ball.”

So why did AB feel the need to offer his services as a wideout coach? Well, the most obvious reason appears to be the struggles of the team in the WR department, particularly involving Pickens who once again made headlines for non-footballing reasons.

Lack of depth the source of Pittsburgh’s troubling WR situation

George Pickens’ struggles have continued this season. He had only 3 catches for 26 yards in the tough loss against the Cowboys. The receiver struggled to get open, which has been a problem for most of their wideouts. This is ironic since Pickens got fined recently for writing “Always open” in black under his eyes.

Pickens also played a career-low 34 snaps, spending time on the bench for extended periods even when the team was trailing. His frustration was evident as he threw his helmet on the ground during the clash.

Despite his poor form and temper tantrums, he leads the Steelers in both yards and receptions, with 310 yards and 23 receptions. That sums up the situation for the side. In general view, Pittsburgh lacks depth in the receiving department, with only six wideouts, none of them reaching 200 yards for the season.

WR2 on the depth chart Van Jefferson has only 8 receptions for 62 yards, while WR3, Calvin Austin, has fared slightly better, managing to get 131 yards on 8 catches. 3rd rookie from Michigan, Roman Wilson is yet to play a snap.

Unsurprisingly, the franchise has actively tried to pursue Aiyuk and now are linked with Davante Adams. It’s also the reason, why fans want Antonio Brown to come out of retirement and play as a receiver – to find some scope of favorable results in plays.

While the play-calling of Arthur Smith and Justin Fields can be blamed for failing to find receivers, there isn’t much quality in the ranks.