Antonio Brown didn't make himself available for practice in the week leading up to the Steelers' regular season finale against the Bengals, claiming he had a knee injury.
Now, he won't be going to the Pro Bowl, either.
The Steelers announced Monday Brown has pulled out of the Pro Bowl because of injury and has been replaced by teammate JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Brown, of course, has been the subject of a lot of controversy in the past week after he showed up on the Steelers' injury report late in the week leading up to the game against the Bengals. The team scheduled Brown to have an MRI on the Friday before the game after he sat out practices Wednesday and Thursday.
But he skipped the MRI and would not return phone calls from Mike Tomlin Friday night or all day Saturday. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, then called Tomlin on the day of the game and said his client could play. Tomlin chose to hold Brown out since he had not practiced all week. The Steelers won the game, 16-13, but still missed the playoffs.
Brown showed up for the game but left before halftime.
Since then, it was learned Brown had a verbal altercation with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger during a walkthrough on the Wednesday before the game. The Steelers are contemplating what to do with the disgruntled receiver.
The Pro Bowl will be the first for Smith-Schuster, who won the team MVP award after leading the Steelers with 111 receptions for 1,426 yards. His seven receiving touchdowns were second to Brown.
Brown was named to the Pro Bowl for the seventh time this season after recording his NFL-record sixth-consecutive season with 100 or more receptions. He also led the NFL with 15 touchdown catches.
Brown was one of six Steelers selected to play in the Pro Bowl, which will be held Jan. 27 in Orlando. Also elected to play were guard David DeCastro, center Maurkice Pouncey, left tackle Alejandro Villanueva, defensive lineman Cameron Heyward and running back James Conner.