Brown never stops working
working, always competing, always striving to be better than anyone else on the field. Doesn’t matter if it’s a spring practice with his teammates or the postseason in January. Brown knows only one way, one speed. Full bore ahead.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I need to get better, and I try to evolve my game to get better in every aspect.”
Really? It would have been easy for Brown to excuse himself from the threeweek OTAs that concluded Thursday. After catching more passes in a four-year span (481) than any player in NFL history and signing a record contract for a wide receiver (five years, $72.7 million) in February, it would have been perfectly understandable if he missed more than a few days of spring practice.
But Brown has been there every day, running routes, catching passes, trying to score any way imaginable, as though he is preparing for a December showdown with the Cincinnati Bengals. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Money don’t matter when you line up with these guys,” Brown said. “They don’t see money; they see you. You got to be on your preparation and details to be ready to go with your job, your assignment. I’m here to put in the preparation and develop the process.”
He has done that, getting ready for another training camp, another season.
This will be Brown’s eighth year in the league since he was a sixth-round pick in 2010, and the numbers he has compiled have been some of the best in NFL history.
Since 2013, he has set alltime league records for most receptions in a two-year (265), three-year (375) and four-year span (481), not to mention having the most receptions by any player in his first six (526) and seven years (632) in the NFL. In 2016, he became only the second receiver to post four consecutive seasons of at least 100 catches. He can pass former Indianapolis Colts receiver Marvin Harrison, who also has four, if he can duplicate the feat in 2017.
How does a player with such gaudy numbers set new goals?
“I don’t,” Brown said. “It’s details on detail, preparation on preparation, trying to push myself as hard as I can to achieve something I’ve never achieved or something I’ve never done.”
Curiously, Brown’s numbers last season — 106 catches, 1,284 yards — were his lowest in four years. But he caught 12 touchdowns, not including a 50-yard catch-and-run for score in the wild-card playoff victory against the Miami Dolphins — incredibly, the first time he scored a postseason touchdown.
But with the return from suspension of Martavis Bryant, the addition of rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster and a healthy Sammie Coates, Brown should not see as much attention from opposing defenses. He said he hasn’t watched Bryant at OTAs, but noted, “I think he’s going to be a sponge. He has the right mentality to be here.”
Nonetheless, the possibilities suggest the Steelers offense can be even more dynamic.
“I’m excited to see where we can be,” Brown said. “I know what we’re capable of, but we still got to go out and prove it. I’m excited to be a part of it and excited for the process to get started.”
No worries with Brown. He proves it year after year.