Antonio Brown didn’t skip out on the vast majority of the Pittsburgh Steelers organized team activities to make a statement. Or to disrespect the backup quarterbacks. Or to take a stand alongside running back Le’Veon Bell.

The All-Pro insists he simply felt more comfortable working out back home in Miami Will Richardson Jersey , where he could spend time with his five children and escape what he described as the ”pressure” he faces from outside forces daily in Pittsburgh.

”I needed that precious time with myself to get my mind right,” Brown said Tuesday as the Steelers began a mandatory three-day minicamp.

A move the 29-year-old star called necessary as he prepares for his ninth season. Brown is typically a fixture at the voluntary workouts, where he is usually among the few players in actual football pants instead of shorts.

This spring, however, he participated in the first two days and then jetted off to Florida. The fact that starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger appeared for the first day of OTAs before taking time off for what he called a planned family vacation was purely coincidental.

”I play with any quarterback, no matter who’s here,” Brown said. ”I play with the Steelers. It’s not one guy that I (catch passes from).”

Brown dismissed any insinuation that he left OTAs because he didn’t want to work with the second or third string. He also expressed frustration with media for asking other players to comment on his absence.

”You guys making up stories to ask these guys stuff that they shouldn’t be dealing with,” Brown said. ”You know, that’s the pressure of being a professional athlete. Everyday scrutiny. Everyday pressure. It’s hard to be free.”

Brown, however, struggled to be specific about how the attention that comes with being one of the NFL’s top players negatively affects him.

The only player to have five consecutive seasons with at least 100 receptions stressed he wasn’t calling out Bell when he was questioned last month about Bell’s decision to stay away from the team while waiting to sign his franchise tender.

”You guys paint me a picture to talk about Le’Veon,” Brown said. ”I’m not involved in Le’Veon’s business or his contract. You guys write about it and say `Oh, AB says to show up.’ I just say `The first rule of getting better is show up.’ I didn’t say he got to show up. He’s got his own business.”

The comments by the NFL’s highest-paid wide receiver are a bit at odds with the persona he’s cultivated during a career in which he has evolved from a sixth-round pick to a perennial Pro Bowler. His Instagram feed is updated multiple times a day and gives 2.4 million followers access to workouts, highlights Kasen Williams Jersey , video of his children running track meets or artsy cuts of the multiple Rolls Royces in his driveway.

Lately, though, the posts have taken a different turn. Last week, he called out former offensive coordinator Bruce Arians for labeling him simply as a “special teams guy” and even tweaked coach Mike Tomlin for benching him in favor of Emmanuel Sanders during his rookie season in 2010. Pressed for an explanation, Brown hinted he’s tired of toeing the company line.

”I think you’ve got to start expressing those things that year by year that you go through to get them out of your head,” Brown said. ”I think the more you bottle stuff up and you’re not aware of expressing yourself, that’s when these players have problems.”

Brown’s work ethic has never been in question. As his profile has risen – he’s one of the league’s most marketable players and his exuberant touchdown celebrations have taken on a life of their own – he’s attempted to give longer glimpses into the regimen that’s made him one of the most prolific receivers of his generation. Those posts continued even as he said he wanted to create more time for himself.

”I took a moment to get my mind right from organized team activities,” Brown said. ”It wasn’t even like serious. It’s not even mandatory. It’s volunteer.”

Brown is no longer concerned about his stats but the number of titles he’s won, which remains at zero. It’s the one thing left on his career checklist and the one he feels his career will be judged by. That remains his sole focus even as he lives in a fish bowl of which he’s been a willing architect.

”The game requires a lot of mental happiness and the older you get the more you start thinking about the things that are important,” he said. ”I’ve got five kids, a lot of family … the only thing left for me to do playing the game is to win a championship. I had to take a little time to spend time with my family and see what’s important for me.”

—

— Kellen Moore’s college coach heard from his former quarterback while Moore was thinking about trading his helmet for a whistle.

The next thing Chris Petersen knew, Moore was in charge of Dak Prescott as quarterbacks coach of the Dallas Cowboys not too long after sitting third on the depth chart behind the 2016 NFL offensive rookie of the year.

“When I heard that, I think, ‘Really? You’re sitting next to the guys and now you’ve got the chalk and you’re telling them exactly what to do?'” said Petersen Karl Mecklenburg Jersey , now at Washington after coaching Moore at Boise State. “It’s not like he played for a long, long time in the NFL. I think all those things just speak to how rare he is and how special he is.”

Nobody close to Moore is surprised he ended up in coaching. They’ve been saying that about him since he was winning high school state championships under his dad, Tom Moore, in Washington. The only surprise is that his younger brother, Fresno State receivers coach Kirby Moore, beat him into coaching by several years.

That’s because Kellen Moore’s NFL career lasted six years despite him playing just three regular-season games after going 50-3 as the starter at Boise State.

Two years ago, Moore went into training camp as the backup to Tony Romo before breaking an ankle in practice. Because of that injury, Prescott became the starter when Romo hurt his back in a preseason game.

The Cowboys ran off a franchise-record 11 straight wins that season, forcing Romo to concede the job to Prescott before retiring to go into broadcasting. Moore was a backup again, this time behind Prescott, before losing that job to rookie Cooper Rush last season.

Retirement was on Moore’s mind when the Cowboys decided not to bring back Wade Wilson, who coached Dallas quarterbacks the previous 10 years. Moore, who turned 30 in July, decided the time was right.

“There’s nothing like playing Carl Lawson Jersey ,” said Moore, who started two games at the end of a lost 2015 season marred by Romo’s twice-broken collarbone. “Certainly wasn’t planning on something like this opening. When the opportunity presented itself, felt like it was a really good opportunity. Hard to turn down.”

As for running meetings so soon after sitting next to Prescott in the QB room, the understated Moore shrugs.

“You talk a little bit more in meetings. That’s about it,” he said. “I think simply it’s a collaborative effort in that room. We’re all trying to achieve the same things. One quarterback plays at a time. Do everything you can to help that guy succeed.”

Moore’s transition has been eased by his relationship with offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who had the same job in Detroit when the Lions signed Moore as an undrafted free agent in 2012.

He never took a regular-season snap with the Lions, and came to Dallas a year after Linehan was hired. They share roots in Washington state — their hometowns are 15 miles apart — and a reserved demeanor that Linehan believes plays well with most quarterbacks.

“They didn’t even blink,” Linehan said of Moore’s teammates-turned-pupils. “The respect is there, the whole just understanding that that’s not an easy transformation for a lot of people. But they also knew that Kellen, there’s nobody that takes more diligent preparation and notes and prepares as a player.”

Moore can relate to his head coach, too, since Jason Garrett did the same thing 13 years ago. The former backup to three-time Super Bowl winner Troy Aikman in Dallas, Garrett ended with playing career with Tampa Bay and Miami in 2004. In no time — two weeks, Garrett said — he was Nick Saban’s quarterbacks coach with the Dolphins.

“Oftentimes as players Jake Butt Jersey , we sit back and we have all the answers but someone else is running the show,” Garrett said. “When you click into being a coach, you have to have the answers from A to Z. And you have to be really thorough on how you teach all different guys in the room and all different guys on the field.”

The most important guy is Prescott, but even that won’t really be new to Moore. Since his injury him sidelined all of 2016, Moore was a de facto coach for a first-year player navigating the sudden success of a 13-win season before the Cowboys lost to Green Bay in a divisional playoff game.

Moore said that season got him to thinking about the next phase of his career. And because of that season, Prescott doesn’t feel much of a change.

“Obviously he’s being vocal. He’s being more of a coach,” Prescott said. “He’s always been there teaching me the game, teaching me different things about the defense and the offense. But now that’s his job. He’s done a great job in the film room, on the field.”

While agreeing that the move is unusual, Petersen also sees it as logical.

“He has paid attention like a coach,” Petersen said. “He’s so laser-focused on the mental part of things. He knows that system inside and out. It’s not like he’s learning a new system and all this. He can tell them exactly like this is what you do. I think it’s pretty smart by the Cowboys.”

And not surprising to Petersen, or anyone who knows his former quarterback, that Moore went for it.
JaVale McGee Jersey ,