Martavis Bryant said last weekend he was happy to be a Steeler, but his actions make that hard to believe.
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Bryant, who reportedly asked for a trade weeks ago, was a no-show for a team meeting Monday. A teammate told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Bryant "called in sick."
Martavis Bryant did not show up for required steelers meetings monday. "Called in sick" one teammate said
— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) October 23, 2017
The timeline for Bryant over the last several weeks is interesting. First, reports about a trade request surfaced last week. Bryant and the team tamed the rumors leading up to Sunday’s game against the Bengals. But after another unimpressive out for Bryant, ESPN.com reported Bryant again "wants out … point blank."
After Sunday’s win over Cincinnati, Bryant commented on an Instagram post defending himself against fellow Steelers wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster. Bryant caught just one pass Sunday for three yards, while Smith-Schuster, a rookie from USC, had two catches for 39 yards and a touchdown.
The since-deleted comment read: "JuJu is no where near better than me, fool. All they need to do is give me what I want and y'all can have JuJu and whoever else."
Bryant later refined his remarks and commented on the same post: "JuJu is the future and got great talent and is going to be one of the best to play this game. I want him to get his. I just want mines, period, point-blank.”
Bryant has 18 catches this season for 234 yards and one touchdown. He was suspended all of 2016 for multiple violations of the league's substance abuse policy.