Antonio Brown made sure there was no way the Steelers would want to bring him back by talking trash about anyone and everyone before he was finally traded. But did he quit once he was traded? Of course not!
A few days ago, he decided to go on a Twitter rant about his former teammate, Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. It was something he apparently felt the need to do. Smith-Schuster made the mistake of replying to him (which will just encourage him).
But he did not go on the attack as Brown did.
The drama appears to be done for now, but you know once the season starts Brown will be back at it after every game where he has better numbers than Smith-Schuster.
Since the comparison is bound to be made whether Brown tweets about them or not, at least one sportsbook thought it might be fun to put odds on who will have a better season.
BetOnline.ag has posted odds on who will have more receiving yards receptions and touchdowns in 2019:
- Total Receiving Yards
o Antonio Brown -200
o JuJu Smith-Schuster +150
- Total Receptions
o Antonio Brown -175
o JuJu Smith Schuster +135
- Total Touchdowns
o Antonio Brown -150
o JuJu Smith Schuster +110
Last season, Smith-Schuster led the team in receptions (111) and yards (1426). But Brown wasn’t far behind (104 and 1297), and he led in the most important category—touchdowns (15 to seven for Smith-Schuster).
The easy thing to do would be to look at what each has done. Brown has been at or near the top in yards and receptions for the last few years. Smith-Schuster has had one great season but with Brown on the other side of the field commanding the attention of defenses.
That doesn’t mean Smith-Schuster can’t perform as well now that he will be the No. 1 option, but we don’t know how he’ll do—he’s never had to be that guy in the NFL.
Brown does have a track record which is probably why he is favored in each category. But he is not going to have Ben Roethlisberger throwing his way 150 +times a season anymore. Now it is going to be Derek Carr.
While Carr is a good quarterback, he hasn’t thrown the ball to anyone over 130+ times since 2016. Carr has only had three receivers go for 1000+ yards in a single season and has had a 1000+ yard receiver in only two of his five NFL seasons.
So—who is going to have the better season?
Lean towards Brown on all three but not because he is going to have a phenomenal season in Oakland. The Raiders offense has not looked good for the last couple of seasons; adding Brown to the mix isn’t going to miraculously fix it. Look for Brown to have some of the lowest numbers of his career.
However, now that he is going to be the No. 1 in Pittsburgh, everything is going to change for Smith-Schuster. Defenses are going to cover him differently and a lot tighter than he has ever had to deal with. In the end, he’ll likely be just fine, but it will take time for him to adjust to it all.
In that time, his numbers are going to fall—dramatically.
