Brown clears air on missing OTAs, Bell

Antonio Brown is upset.

He's not upset with the Steelers. He's not upset with fans. He's upset with what he says are stories in the past few weeks that have painted him as being a guy unwilling to work with rookie quarterback Mason Rudolph.

Brown, who was in attendance Tuesday as the Steelers opened their mandatory minicamp at the Rooney Complex, said that was not the reason why he did not take part in the team's final seven OTA sessions.

"It's not even mandatory. It's voluntary," Brown said. "And you guys go making up stories about how I don't want to work with a rookie quarterback."

DKPittsburghSports.com reported Brown and Ben Roethlisberger were not at all of the OTA sessions because Mike Tomlin gave them the OK to not be there so the team could get more practice reps for some of the young players it had drafted, including Rudolph, a third-round draft pick, and receiver James Washington, a second-round pick.

Roethlisberger returned last week for the team's final two OTA sessions after missing six in a row while on vacation with his family. But Tuesday was the first time Brown had been on the field with the team since participating in the first two days of OTAs.

Before his final appearance at OTAs, Brown was asked what he thought of Le'Veon Bell not being there, at which time he said the first rule to getting better was showing up for practice. Brown said that statement was misunderstood.

Brown is coming off a season in which he finished with 101 receptions and nine touchdowns and a league-best 1,533 yards despite missing the final two games of the regular season with a calf injury. At the time of his injury, he also was leading the league in receptions and was in the running to lead the league in all three statistics.

He returned for the Steelers' playoff loss to Jacksonville, but was admittedly not 100 percent recovered for that game -- though he caught seven passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns.

Brown has been training heavily on his own -- and putting those videos out on his social media outlets -- and continued to do so when he wasn't at the OTA sessions.

But he said he is being treated unfairly in this regard because he feels he's too much under the microscope.

"I'll play with any quarterback, no matter who's here. I play for the Steelers. It's not one guy," he said. "You guys write the stories. I have to wake up to the Google alert. I'm under pressure. I can't go work out by myself. Fans come and meet me at the field. You guys write about me every day. My mom sees it, my family. I started thinking to myself, am I really free? I can't express myself. I can't tell you guys how I really feel. You guys put pressure on me all of the time."

Brown also got into some hot water recently for posting on his Instagram page: "Bruce Arians said he's a special teams guy he can't learn the plays hots n sites. Not Smart Enough Coach T Bench me on a bye week; said two dogs one bone. God bless em #putsomerespectonmyname"

The references were to things that happened his rookie season in 2010. Brown has since become the first player in league history to record five consecutive 100-reception seasons. But he's obviously still using those moments from 2010 as motivation.

"I don't have any problems with anyone," he said. "You play this game so much, you only get so long to do so. Everybody tells me not to pay attention to it. But there's a lot of people that put a lot of pressure on me. When I take time to reflect, I reflect on guys who have made it hard on me for no reason. I don't hate those guys. I love those guys. As a player, it's good to get those things out of your mind."

As it apparently was Tuesday.

"I don't resent anything," Brown said. "It's a form of football that people don't understand. People write stories about me and they want to know why he didn't play his rookie year. As a player, you've got to express year by year the things you go through to get them off your head."

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY