Pittsburgh Steelers: Dez Bryant is last thing locker room needs

Antonio Brown made a pitch for Dez Bryant to come to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the veteran wideout is the last thing this team needs.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been in the headlines for much of the offseason for a variety of reasons, many of them concerning the offense. Ben Roethlisberger’s unhappiness with the team drafting Mason Rudolph, the team not reaching a long-term deal with Le’Veon Bell and even trading Martavis Bryant have all been on the docket this offseason for the Steelers offense.

In a perfect world, there’s no question that the Steelers have one of the most potent offenses in the NFL. They can beat you on the ground and through the air, doing so with ease when it’s all clicking.

However, it’s hard to look at the big personalities and the drama of this offseason and not think of the offense and locker room right now as a somewhat combustable situation. Yes, there is a good chance that Bell plays his heart out in 2018, even it is his last year in Pittsburgh, in his own interest of getting a rich contract next offseason. But there is equally the chance that he might be a bit of a diva in the locker room and create a sort of divide. A divide could also exist if Big Ben remains unhappy about Rudolph or a variety of other reasons.

All of this leads us to Sunday morning as perhaps the most dynamic player on the offense, wide receiver Antonio Brown, went to Twitter to throw out a recruiting pitch to free agent wideout Dez Bryant:

Strictly speaking about talent, adding Bryant to the group in Pittsburgh would be special. A pass-catching group of Brown, Bryant, Bell and Juju Smith-Schuster, on paper, is enough to keep any opposing defensive coordinator up at night.

However, there is much more to consider than just that. For one, Bryant wasn’t the player that he once was over the last few seasons in Dallas. That in relation to his price tag was one of the reasons why the Cowboys ultimately made the decision to part ways with the former first-round pick.

In the wake of Bryant’s release though, the other possible issue has been evident. Bryant has long been fiery and vocal, and his ire has taken the form of him simply being combative this offseason. Whether talking about what happened in Dallas (and taking shots at his former team) or about what he can bring as a player now, Bryant has been nothing short of a prima donna throughout his free agent period this offseason.

Thus, it would make little sense for the Steelers to follow up on Brown’s recruiting pitch to Bryant. Again, this isn’t exactly a utopian locker room right now in Pittsburgh. There are potential problems waiting to happen all over the place. Adding another combustable piece to the mixture with Dez Bryant is only going to add another notch to that list.

From Brown’s perspective, he wants more talent on the roster because, well, who wouldn’t? But from a team-building and chemistry perspective, the Steelers front office needs to not let their star wide receiver make the personnel calls in this instance. Put frankly, they need to stay away from Bryant and worry about keeping what they already have in place from falling apart in 2018.