Aug 27, 2016 4 min read

How about just shutting up?

Martavis Bryant, the Steelers wide receiver who is serving a one-year suspension for smoking weed, was all over Twitter this week. He thought it would be a good idea to get into a Twitter battle with Stephen A. Smith of ESPN and Mad Dog Radio and his 2.8. million followers.

Smith, when he heard Bryant was coaching at a high school while serving his suspension, asked, “You’re going to go around kids? What the hell are you going to teach them, how to puff and pass? I don’t want to hear that.”

Smith might be being unfair by dismissing the possibility Bryant could be a good example to the kids by telling them not to be as stupid as he was, but self-righteous indignation makes for better radio.

And Smith’s job description calls for him to attract eyes and ears. That’s how he gets paid. Bryant’s job description calls for him to catch footballs.

We’re probably well beyond the days when a player should be expected to have the sense and/or maturity to keep as low a profile as possible after he’s embarrassed himself and the organization that employs him.

Where is his coach, Mike Tomlin? How about a quick message through the media? Something like, “We would really appreciate it if Martavis grew up and shut up. He needs to be invisible until mini-camp next year.”

He could offer the same public advice for his running back, Le’Veon Bell, who will miss three games for the same stupidity.

Bell is sending messages to the organization and teammates he let down by way of rap video. He was nice enough to tell the team he embarrassed and betrayed twice how much money he thinks he’s worth.

Where is general manager Kevin Colbert? How about team president Art Rooney II? Would they be out of line for pulling Bell aside and saying, “Hey, Lev, why don’t you do us and yourself a favor and shut up?”

Or have all expectations for employees making big money disappeared like sweet smelling smoke through an open car window?

If the Steelers were really concerned about the image projected by children like Bell and Bryant, they would come out publicly and tell them to shut up.

Not that the players would listen.

• And how about getting a haircut?

We’re long past the days when an NFL team would tell a player to conform to any kind of fashion code, but what if a guy’s hair costs his team a game?

You would think a football player, who makes his living by running with a football and avoiding tackles, would be smart enough not to give tacklers a convenient handle.

Green Bay running back Eddie Lacy was tackled Friday night when a pursuing defensive back (legally, by the way) pulled him down by his dreadlocks.

Lacy said it hurt and he’s going to consider a shorter hair style, one that, you know, doesn’t actually make it a little less likely he will break a long run. He’s going to take a look at scheduling an appointment during Week Four when the Packers are off and he can see his barber in New Orleans.

Would it be mean or unfair if someone in Packers management took him aside and said, “Hey, Eddie, we’re paying you a lot of money. We’re glad you took our advice and lost the extra 50 pounds that might have slowed you down last year. How about getting a haircut?”

Again, you would think a grown man would see the stupidity and the selfishness of letting a fashion statement possibly cost his team a game and himself money.

If the guy you’re paying a lot of money is that stupid, don’t you owe it to the other players to tell him to wisen up?

John Steigerwald writes a Sunday sports column for the Observer-Reporter.