NFL News: Jerry Rice Has High Compliments For Pittsburgh Steelers' Antonio Brown; Is Brown Best Wide Receiver in NFL?
The 2014 NFL season is entering Week 10 and one of the best players this season has been Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown.
The young 26-year-old wide out has been making quite a name for himself in this league.
Former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice recently said of Brown, "he's killing it right now." Rice also said work ethic played a big factor in Brown's success as well.
This season Brown leads the NFL in receiving yards with 996 and receptions with 71. Surprisingly, Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte has the second most receptions in the league with 58. Brown also has eight touchdowns this season and 14 catches of 20 yards or more, the second most in the NFL. Fantasy Football owners rejoice.
Brown is also extremely consistent. This season, Brown has at least five catches and 80 yards in every single game.
What makes Brown so effective is that he can do everything; he has no weakness. Brown may not be the second coming of Randy Moss, but he certainly has deep threat abilities and can stretch the field. Brown can also lineup in the slot and do the dirty work through the middle like a Wes Welker type of receiver. On top of that, Brown is also very capable of catching mid range passes and racking up huge yards after the catch with his blazing speed.
Brown's speed, great hands, route running and work ethic have him in MVP consideration.
The only knock against Brown is his height. Brown stands just 5-foot-10, which is relatively short for a wide receiver who does what Brown does. Despite being under six feet tall, Brown is still able to catch almost everything quarterback Ben Roethlisberger throws his way. Brown had a lot of doubters coming out of Central Michigan, and wasn't even drafted until the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft.
Even though so many great wide receivers have played in this league, we have never seen a receiver win the MVP award. Could Brown be the first?
Compared to other receivers, Brown stacks up very well. Calvin "Megatron" Johnson has been injured this season playing just five games. Dez Bryant of the Dallas Cowboys still has some route issues with Tony Romo, and T.Y. Hilton benefits from an offense that is very pass happy.
"His work ethic, demeanor and attitude are just unbelievable" said Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger is also having a career season, thanks to Brown's emergence as an elite wide receiver.
Brown is also a talented special teams player. In his young career, Brown already has more than 2,000 combined kick return and punt return yards. In 2011, Brown made history by becoming the first and only player ever to return more than 1,000 yards and receive more than 1,000 yards in the same season. That statistical accomplishment shows just how athletic Brown really is.
Brown has played four and a half years in the NFL and he was just a sixth round pick, but he is already an elite wide receiver. If Brown continues his great play, he could go down as one of the best players in Steelers franchise history.
The Steelers next game will be against the New York Jets on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 1 p.m. EST.
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