Martavis Bryant Would Like You to Know He’s Upset

Sporting News–  Martavis Bryant said last weekend he was happy to be a Steeler, but his actions make that hard to believe.

Bryant, who reportedly asked for a trade weeks ago, was a no-show for a team meeting Monday. A teammate told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Bryant “called in sick.” 

After Sunday’s win over Cincinnati, Bryant commented on an Instagram post defending himself against fellow Steelers wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster. Bryant caught just one pass Sunday for three yards, while Smith-Schuster, a rookie from USC, had two catches for 39 yards and a touchdown.

The since-deleted comment read: “JuJu is no where near better than me, fool. All they need to do is give me what I want and y’all can have JuJu and whoever else.”

Bryant later refined his remarks and commented on the same post: “JuJu is the future and got great talent and is going to be one of the best to play this game. I want him to get his. I just want mines, period, point-blank.”

Bryant has 18 catches this season for 234 yards and one touchdown. He was suspended all of 2016 for multiple violations of the league’s substance abuse policy.

This comes on the heel of the rumors of Martavis Bryant requesting a trade last week. He suited up for the Steelers this week and things looked better as they opened up play with a reverse to — you guessed it — Martavis Bryant. That would be the first of TWO looks that he got all game. Bryant, clearly upset with the Steelers, went on a rant against his fellow WR JuJu Smith-Schuster (who absolutely crushed it with his hide-and-seek celebration) on a random Instagram post. And then today..

Now I’m never a fan of guys not playing out their contract but something has to be done in Pittsburgh. Bryant’s contract ends this season and he’s clearly not on the same page with anybody on the Steelers. Trade him or bench him — but the Steelers have to do something. Bryant is obviously extremely talented but isn’t near the level of Antonio Brown or Le’Veon Bell, Big Ben’s top two targets. The emergence of the dynamic rookie Smith-Schuster is clearly not helping his case either.

Lighting up social media and now skipping practice? The Steelers need to ship this guy out of town before it becomes detrimental to their Super Bowl efforts. Hardly utilizing him, they’re 5-2 anyway — might as well save some face and get some value before he pulls a Blount and walks out on the team.