Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey has covered a lot of top-flight wide receivers in his NFL career. However, he said that former Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown is the most demanding receiver he ever had to cover. Humphrey, on his new podcast, the Punch Line Podcast, broke down his top four most challenging receivers to cover.
The list from lowest to highest went Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill, and Davante Adams, but at the top remained Brown. Playing with the Ravens since 2017, Humphrey got to cover Brown multiple times through the early portion of his career, and he still remembers it well.
“Number one is for sure Antonio Brown,” Humphrey said. “He is kinda wilding out now, but he can still put up 1500.”
Despite the antics that have come at the end of his career and after it, Brown is one of the best wide receivers to suit up in recent memory. In the last generation, he may be the greatest receiver of that group. He last played for the Steelers in 2018, when the team traded him to the then-Oakland Raiders after he forced his way out. But his play on the field is never going to be in question. His stats and film showcase just the type of receiver that Brown was, and most cornerbacks that faced him will tell anyone how hard the guy was to cover for a full game.
Brown, 34, leaves that legacy as one of the most dominant receivers in NFL history in his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2010-18, but since then has caused a slew of on- and off-the-field issues, including several lawsuits, arrests, sexual assault allegations, and a lengthy suspension. His last on-field game came in 2021, where he ran shirtless off the field against the New York Jets. Earlier this offseason, his agent said that Brown received some inquiries from teams, and he remains a free agent.