Prior to his injury two weeks ago against the New England Patriots, Antonio Brown was garnering national attention as a possible league MVP candidate despite the fact a receiver has never won the award.
He'll have to settle for a fourth team MVP award instead.
Brown was voted the Steelers' MVP on Wednesday by his teammates, beating out several deserving teammates, including Le'Veon Bell, Ben Roethlisberger and Cameron Heyward.
Bell voted for Brown.
"He just had that type of year," Bell told me. "I think I was worthy of it. I think Ben was worthy of it. He made special plays in special moments."
Brown has caught 101 passes for 1,539 yards and nine touchdowns this season despite suffering a severely bruised calf early in the second quarter of the Steelers' loss two weeks ago to New England. He also missed Monday's win at Houston and won't play in the team's regular season finale Sunday against Cleveland at Heinz Field. He is expected to return for the team's first playoff game against a yet-to-be determined opponent in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
He is the first player in NFL history to record five consecutive 100-catch seasons.
The Steelers had an NFL-best eight players selected to the Pro Bowl this season, showing that there were several deserving candidates. It made for a difficult voting process.
"No," cornerback Joe Haden told me when I asked if he had ever been on a team with so many deserving candidate. "We've got league-MVP candidates in addition to Antonio Brown. Those guys are playing on such a high level. I'm just honored to be on this team. When we go into a stadium, we have our defense and I love our guys. Their defense has to handle our guys. We have so much talent on this team. That vote, anybody could have won it."
Bell. who won the award in 2014 and 2016, expressed surprise when told Roethlisberger had won the award just one time -- 2009 -- in his 14-year career.
"I think it's a little surprising because of how special a player he is. Ben does such a good job of using his weapons that he may get overlooked a little bit. AB is a special player but Ben makes him even more special. Same with me. I think I'm a special player, but Ben makes me that much more special. He's just a guy who finishes second or third every year. He could have won it this year, no sweat, no problem. Nobody would have batted an eye at all."
Brown also won the award in 2011, 2013 and 2015.