Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown became the fastest NFL player to 900 catches over the weekend, and the former Pittsburgh Steelers draft pick publicly thanked his first NFL quarterback for helping him get to the milestone.
Brown thanked Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, along with his current quarterback Tom Brady, for helping him get to the mark.
“That’s something that I’m very grateful for, but I couldn’t do it by myself,” he said. “I was able to play with some great quarterbacks: Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady. It’s a blessing to play with guys like that, be able to get the ball and be able to be on that trajectory.”
“It’s something that I’m really grateful for” – @AB84 on being the fastest to 900 catches in #NFL
He shows love to Big Ben & @TomBrady #GoBucs #MIAvsTB @953WDAE pic.twitter.com/MCZWKbLIe0
— Jay Recher (@jayRecher) October 10, 2021
Brown and Roethlisberger had a contentious falling out as Brown left the Steelers after the 2018 season. Brown has since publicly apologized to Roethlisberger.
Of Brown’s 906 career catches, 837 were with the Steelers, and the vast majority of those came from the arm of Roethlisberger. The Steelers drafted Brown in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft out of Central Michigan and he spent nine seasons in Pittsburgh.
Since then, he played one game with New England in 2019 and is in his second season with Tampa Bay, where he won Super Bowl LVI after the 2020 season.