The complaint is old, but Antonio Brown keeps finding new ways to make it feel fresh. The former Pittsburgh Steelers receiver went on another tear over the weekend on TikTok Live, framing the 2018 team MVP vote as proof that the franchise turned on him before his messy exit.
“Imagine your own team betrays you. Yalla bye. How do you give the guy that fumbled the season the MVP?!?” Brown said in a clip shared by Dov Kleiman.
That comment came roughly seven years after JuJu Smith-Schuster, then Pittsburgh’s second-year wide receiver, edged out Brown for the players’ MVP vote following the 2018 season.
Brown finished that year with 104 catches for 1,297 yards and a career-best 15 touchdowns. Smith-Schuster posted 111 receptions for 1,426 yards and seven scores, plus the fumble against the Saints in Week 16 that helped knock Pittsburgh out of playoff contention. Brown has cited that fumble for years as the reason Smith-Schuster never deserved the award.
This new outburst fits a wider pattern around Brown right now. He spent much of last week on TikTok Live ripping former teammate Ben Roethlisberger, calling out Brandon Marshall and Odell Beckham Jr., and repeatedly insisting he was “bigger than the program” in Pittsburgh.
Steelers Now reported Brown told viewers, “Ask Ben Roethlisberger how many touchdowns he held me back from.”
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Steelers receiver Antonio Brown scores a touchdown during the NFL football game between the New Orleans Saints and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Mecedes-Benz Superdome.. Sunday, Dec. 23, 2018.
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Why Brown still treats that 2018 vote as a personal slight
Brown had already won the Steelers MVP four times before 2018. The fifth one going to a second-year teammate, in a season he led the NFL in receiving touchdowns, has stuck with him. Brown told VladTV in 2024 the vote was a signal Pittsburgh wanted to build around someone else.
𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚: Antonio Brown goes OFF on the Steelers saying they betrayed him by giving JuJu Smith-Schuster the team MVP over him in 2018.
“Imagine your own team betrays you. Yalla bye. How do you give the guy that fumbled the season the MVP?!?”
😳😳😳 pic.twitter.com/6Q8T17n1OW
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) May 18, 2026
“We’re trying to build up another player to try and be who I am,” Brown said at the time. “In the midst of that, I was like, we’re never going to win with that type of energy.”
Kansas City Chiefs, Juju Smith-Schuster, NFL
Sep 14, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (9) arrives prior to the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
Brown is also currently awaiting trial on an attempted second-degree murder charge tied to a 2025 shooting incident in Florida, which adds another layer to the recent rants.
What stands out now is actually the timing. Pittsburgh just hosted the 2026 NFL Draft, hired Mike McCarthy as head coach, and overhauled the receiver room with new additions like Germie Bernard.
The franchise has clearly moved on. Brown, judging by every TikTok session, has not.