Dunlap: Steelers Need To Act On Martavis
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PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) - The Pittsburgh Steelers got a pretty good thing going on. Heck, they might just be the best team in the AFC right now.
Know what they can't do? Let some venal and greedy guy --- who doesn't make enough of a difference on the field --- drag them down.
So they need to take Martavis Bryant's social media accounts away from him.
And when that's done, they need to take his gameday helmet away from him.
Yep --- those are the simple, quick and easy two steps that should be taken if they haven't been already. Decide the big picture after that, but do that immediately.
Drama, drama, drama. All this drama for a very good football team and, the most recent episode involves (again) Bryant, who didn't stop at just complaining he wasn't getting the ball enough or hinting that he wanted traded, but this time felt the need to assail teammate JuJu Smith-Schuster, a young man who has quickly catapulted over him on the depth chart. To be clear, Smith-Schuster didn't deserve any of this.
"JuJu is no where near better than me, fool," Bryant commented on Instagram to a poster, shortly after the Steelers dispatched the Bengals on Sunday. "All they need to do is give me what I want and y'all can have JuJu and whoever else."
Bryant went on to erase that comment and attempt to offer some clarification by posting the following:
"JuJu is the future and got great talent and is going to be one of the best to play this game. I want him to get his. I just want mines, period, point-blank. Ain't nobody did nothing to get me back. I worked my ass off to get myself back with no help and little support, period. In due time the process will show."
Yeah, sure, OK Martavis. Hopefully this time next season you won't be employed by this organization. I'd be fine if this time tomorrow you weren't employed by the organization --- if they released you straight up --- but I don't know if the Steelers would be so aggressive as to pull that move off.
They should, however, demand that he not post on social media. There is precedent as safety Mike Mitchell had his social media "freedom" taken away by the organization in the past when his posts became detrimental to the positive direction in which the organization was attempting to head.
Bryant is simply an employee of the Pittsburgh Steelers and they should exercise the power they have to tell him enough is enough.
In addition, Bryant should be made inactive. There doesn't need to be any justification as to this, as the Steelers can do as they please with players on gameday. He should, for the near future if not the remainder of the season, be made to stand on the sidelines in a sweatsuit.
From there, I'd try to seek a trade partner in the off-season for Bryant. If there are no takers, I'd more than likely just cut the guy. For me, trying to sully a teammate on social media was the last straw for this guy --- a teammate he seemingly has had a problem with since the day Smith-Schuster was drafted.
Bryant is 25, under contract through the end of next season and has a ton of potential. He's also a headache-a-second guy for the front office; his conceivable talent only outdone by his certainty for doing the knuckleheaded thing all the time. At this point, it's time to think about letting him become someone else's problem, because there is no way it looks as if Martavis Bryant will ever help the Pittsburgh Steelers again.
To put it simply: This guy isn't worth the headaches anymore.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weekdays from 5:40 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
