Martavis Bryant became the lead story late Sunday night after the Steelers defeated the Chiefs at Arrowhead, but it wasn't for good reasons.
NFLNetwork's Ian Rapoport dropped the news on Twitter that Bryant had requested to be traded for a 'fresh start'. Dan Graziano from ESPN quickly confirmed Rapoport's story, but clarified that it had come during week 5 after he was upset with his playing time.
We reached out to Bryant's girlfriend to find out if Bryant actually wanted out of Pittsburgh and she replied with a simple 'Yes' and didn't respond to further questions.
Late last night when the Steelers returned to Pittsburgh, Bryant sent out this tweet.
Big win today and tomorrow right back to work tomorrow I am happy to be a steeler and can't wait to reach number 7 this year.
— Martavis Bryant (@ThaBestUNO) October 16, 2017
Today he was available to the media.
Asked if he requested a trade: "Nah, I'm good man".
"I ain't complaining. I know my potential. I know what I can do," Bryant said. "Whatever I get, I have to make the best of it."
The opportunities haven't been coming for Bryant or anyone else not named Le'Veon Bell, or Antonio Brown the last three weeks. Bell has rushed for over 150 yards twice in the last three weeks, while having 10 receptions against Jacksonville. Brown became the first Steelers player to record back to back 150 or more receiving yard games since Elbie Nickel over a half decade ago. Bryant only had two catches against Kansas City, but one resulted in a first down and the other was a 7 yard gain on first down.
Most of the frustration from Bryant has to come from the fact that rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster has taken away some of his playing time. He has played more snaps than Bryant in the last four games and actually replaced Bryant on the outside a few times yesterday.
Several sources inside the Steelers organization have said that they have no interest in trading Bryant. We all know his potential. We've seen the dominant force that he can be, but the drug suspensions surely make his return value very small in a potential trade. Besides, the Steelers have no one to replace him, and they still need to be rewarded for sticking by his side thru everything that he's done.
