Keeping Bryant makes sense
He replied in the now infamous words, “juju is no where near better than me fool.”
And you know what? That was the one thing Bryant said all week that rang true (shame he deleted the post).
JuJu Smith-Schuster is not better than Martavis Bryant. He is merely better adjusted and contributing more at the moment.
Few receivers on the planet are more physically gifted than Bryant. You don’t give up on talent like that for a fifth-round pick or some such thing just because a guy makes a little noise and calls in sick. So, if you’re one of those calling for the Steelers to cut Bryant or deal him before the trade deadline Tuesday, pipe down (pun intended).
Is that really what you want?
I ask, because it’s a fact that Bryant is incredibly valuable when he’s right, or even close to right, and that the Steelers are not blessed with enormous depth at wide receiver.
They might need him. They probably will need him.
They don’t at the moment. They just won two big games with minimal Martavis contributions. But the season isn’t even halfway finished, and we all know who’ll probably be waiting near the end (hint: their quarterback is married to Gisele Bündchen).
If you need a refresher on what it’s like to go into that game with inadequate weaponry, please reference then AFC championship last season and please remember the early deep ball to Sammie “Broken Fingers” Coates and how it bounced off his (likely broken) fingertips.
Le’Veon Bell’s injury hurt the Steelers’ chances to keep up with the New England Patriots that day. Scant receiver depth killed those chances.
Without Bryant, this receiving corps is possibly an injury away from another dire situation.
After Antonio Brown, you have a rising presence in Smith-Schuster, who shrugged off his training wheels plenty quick. But is he a legit No. 2 already? I love his all-around game, but that question lingers.
Eli Rogers is having a disappointing season. Justin Hunter was barely noticeable in the games he played. Darrius Heyward-Bey rounds out the group.
And then of course there is Bryant, who, lest we forget, is coming off more than a year away from competitive football. Dude went 600 days between real games (from Denver playoff game to 2017 Cleveland opener). Not everybody returns to the highest level of his sport after that kind of time off and plays as if nothing happened. Not everybody is Mario Lemieux.
Having said that, Bryant still is one of the reasons the Steelers are in first place in the AFC North Division. He still can play. Consider the Minnesota game. That’s a pretty good defense. Bryant had the best day of any receiver this season against the Vikings, going for 90 yards and a touchdown on four catches. He set up another touchdown with a 49yard interference penalty.
Bryant’s teammates have not given up on him. They seem to want to loosen him up in the worst way, as if to tell him, “Relax, have fun, don’t take yourself so seriously.” That was them in close range woofing about doctor’s visits and JuJu’s bike as Bryant spoke Wednesday to the media.
Know this, too: When Bryant isn’t warding off imaginary enemies or feeling insecure — and plenty of us can relate to both of those mind states — he knows his teammates have his back. I asked Bryant, in that interview after Week 2, what he missed most about the game during his year away.
“Being around my teammates,” he said. “I mean, of course you love the game of football. But I missed being around the locker room and having their support, and supporting them. Just going on this journey with them, it really helps you out. They’re a part of my family now.”
Believe as much or as little of that as you like. Here is something undeniable: This team, maybe the mosttalented team in football, has a very real chance to win the Super Bowl, and the men in that room believe Martavis Bryant can help them do it.
They might need him, in case of injury or in case they have to match Gisele’s husband point for point.
They probably will need him. Make sense?