Antonio Brown says Terry Bradshaw among ex-Steelers legends who should have numbers retired

Antonio Brown says Terry Bradshaw among ex-Steelers legends who should have numbers retired

Antonio Brown is lobbying for three former Pittsburgh Steelers to receive one of the biggest honors a team can give a former player.

Brown, an All-Decade receiver during his nine-year run with the franchise, wants the Steelers to retire the jersey numbers of former quarterbacks Terry Bradshaw, Ben Roethlisberger and safety Troy Polamalu. At this point, the Steelers have only retired the numbers of three players: Ernie Stautner (No. 70), Joe Greene (75) and Franco Harris (his number, 32, was posthumously retired in December of 2022).

“Truth be told how the Steelers only got 3 retired jerseys at this point,” Brown recently wrote on X. “Should have 5 plus just off Steel Curtain. I’m still a Steeler for life but damn.

“Retire #12 #43 and after HOF #7 already so they families can enjoy it.”

Each of the players Brown mentioned certainly have a case to have their numbers retired, Bradshaw especially. Now, 75, Bradshaw is the only quarterback to win back-to-back Super Bowls twice. He’s one of just three starting quarterbacks in NFL history (Tom Brady and Joe Montana being the other two) with four Super Bowl wins. Bradshaw is also one of five players with multiple Super Bowl MVP awards.

In Steelers history, Bradshaw is the only Pittsburgh player to win league MVP, doing so in 1978. That season, he became the second player to win league and Super Bowl MVP honors in the same year (only five more players have since done so). That year, Bradshaw led the NFL in touchdown passes and set then-Super Bowl records with 318 yards and four touchdowns in Pittsburgh’s 35-31 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

Given his long list of accolades and his impact on the Steelers, it’s clear that Bradshaw’s jersey retirement is long overdue. Now that Harris’ jersey has been retired (many had long thought that he would be the first offensive player to have his jersey retired by the team), it’ll be interesting to see if Steelers president Art Rooney II bestows Bradshaw with the honor sometime soon.

It’s conceivable that Roethlisberger and Polamalu will have their numbers retired at some point down the road. Roethlisberger owns every team passing record and followed Bradshaw as a two-time Super Bowl champion. Polamalu was the driving force behind a dominant defense that led the NFL in fewest points allowed on four separate occasions.