PITTSBURGH _ What exactly did Martavis Bryant do wrong to prompt the discipline from Steelers coach Mike Tomlin that will bench the wide receiver for Sunday's game in Detroit?
He asked for a trade? He said he is better than a rookie receiver?
Golly, throw away the key, right? No athlete has ever said those things before.
The NFL has rules on discipline, although not exactly spelled out what that discipline can involve. As part of a personal conduct policy adopted by the league three years ago, it states:
"Everyone who is part of the league must refrain from conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the NFL."
It goes on to list various things such as arrests, etc. Nowhere does it say a player can be disciplined for asking to be traded or for boasting that he is better than a rookie teammate.
Now, were Bryant's actions on Instagram, his interview with ESPN and his camp's requests to be traded a distraction for the Steelers? No doubt. Tomlin admitted as much. Ramon Foster, for one, told the Post-Gazette on Monday he was tired of answering questions for Bryant, who called in sick that day. Tomlin said Bryant's absence Monday was a legitimate excuse, even though it was the fourth day Bryant missed because of an unknown illness over the past several weeks.
Bryant will be paid for this week's work, even though he won't play. All game-day inactive players receive their regular paycheck. The lack of production from Bryant this season could warrant him not to be active for their game against the Lions. Tomlin did the same thing with Eli Rogers for two games. But Bryant said his coach told him he will not play because of his use of social media.
The NFL Players Association would seem to have an interest in this kind of discipline, but a Post-Gazette request for comment from the union went unanswered. Tomlin did not fine him.
The question to Bryant might be: What did he expect to happen with his request to be traded? He and his agent should have known the Steelers never would have acquiesced to those wishes. If not, Bryant said, he will play out his contract, which runs through 2018. So he can become a free agent in 2019, but in order to hit his big payday he'll have to be productive between now and then. The trade request has backfired in a big way.
The Steelers and even Bryant can only hope things work out the way they did the last time Tomlin disciplined a wide receiver for something that occurred away from football.
Santonio Holmes was stopped and cited for marijuana possession while driving home in the city on a Thursday before a game in 2008. Tomlin sent him home for the rest of that week and made him inactive for the October game against the New York Giants, which the Steelers lost.
They overcame that distraction in a big way, with Holmes catching the winning touchdown pass and earning Super Bowl MVP.
