Martavis Bryant doesn't care what you think about him. He doesn't care if you boo him. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't care about anything.
He was cheered when he was announced in pregame introductions in his first home game following his one-game suspension by Mike Tomlin. Bryant drew boos from the home crowd, however, late in the first half of the Steelers' 40-17 win over the Titans last Thursday.
With the Steelers leading, 13-7, Bryant dropped a pass from Ben Roethlisberger on a short crossing route. Instead of pouting, however, Bryant came back later during the drive to pounce on an Antonio Brown fumble that preserved a field goal that gave the Steelers a 16-7 lead.
"I don't care about fans booing me, it comes with the game," Bryant said when I asked him about it Friday. "Who cares? I'm just playing and reacting out there and having my brother's back. It is what it is. They can boo me all they want. I don't care."
Bryant has just 23 receptions for 306 yards and one touchdown this season, his first back with the Steelers after serving a one-year suspension for violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy. That's far different than his numbers earlier in his career when the 2014 fourth-round draft pick burst onto the scene midway through his rookie season, scoring 15 touchdowns in his next 21 games.
But problems followed and Bryant was suspended for four games to start the 2015 season before being sidelined all of last year. Things have not exactly been rosy following his reinstatement this season, either. Though he has not had any kind of slip-up in terms of his drug rehabilitation -- he's still tested two or three times each week -- it hasn't exactly been smooth sailing for Bryant.
News leaked a month ago that his agent had asked the Steelers for a trade. Then, the night the Steelers beat the Bengals, 29-14, at home to improve to 5-2, Bryant went on social media and proclaimed himself a better player than teammate JuJu Smith-Schuster. Tomlin sat him the next week against Detroit and Smith-Schuster caught seven passes for 193 yards and a touchdown.
Bryant has only six receptions in the past three games, but with Smith-Schuster out for the Steelers' game Sunday against the Green Bay Packers (5-5), he'll get more opportunities.
"The things I'm going through now aren't my darkest time," said Bryant, who is in the third year of a four-year contract with the Steelers. "This is easy. I've just got to work through it. I took a whole year off, so I don't expect to be the greatest person out there. In due time, I'll get what I deserve. I'm back. I've been here the whole year. It's going to be good to be out there. I'm not really worried about it. Ben believes in me, and I believe in him. We'll just get better. We've been down this road before in the playoffs. We've got a long season ahead. We've got six games left. We've got to finish. We want home field advantage."
And Bryant has a feeling that if he does what he's supposed to do on the field, the boos will stop.
If not, that's fine with him, as well.
"I've never really ever cared what people think or if they boo me," Bryant said. "If you've got my name in your mouth, that means I'm doing something right, I'm relevant. All publicity is good publicity to me. If they want to continue to boo me, they can continue. It doesn't hurt my feelings at night. At the end of the day I go home and I sleep great."