Tim Benz: ESPN's Stephen A. Smith says Steelers should consider Antonio Brown reunion. No, they shouldn't

When you host a national sports talk show on television, you get to do stuff like this.

You get to drop a bomb of this magnitude. Then move on to advocate firing Freddie Kitchens in Week 3, declare that Jimmy Garoppolo is better than Tom Brady and wrap up by telling us why the Los Angeles Clippers will lose to the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the NBA Playoffs this year.

And no one will remember because you said three things just as nutty the day before, and you’ll say three things even more stupid tomorrow.

If you’re lucky, you host a show with Stephen A. Smith. Because then he’ll say four things more ridiculous than your three.

And so on. And so on. And so on.

Your “hot takes” do nothing but consume themselves like a solar system collapsing into its own sun.

But this one needs to be remembered for posterity. This one needs to be recorded so it can be etched into the Mt. Rushmore of bad ideas.

Right up there with Britney Spears shaving her head, Hillary Clinton ignoring Wisconsin and the Pirates acquiring Derek Bell.

Not in that order. We all know that the Pirates getting Bell was the worst decision of the bunch.

Anyway, the fourth head carved into the granite-of-dumb should be Smith’s for his moronic suggestion Thursday on ESPN’s “First Take.”

He actually said of any team that “should consider” eventually bringing excommunicated wide receiver Antonio Brown back into football, it ought to be the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I’ll be fair. The question was, “if” Brown becomes eligible again. And Smith merely said Steelers management “should consider it.”

However, that’s sort of like me saying I’m considering juggling chainsaws while walking down Fort Duquesne Boulevard at rush hour.

For Smith, though, the right answer is, every other team in the NFL “should consider it” more than the Steelers.

That includes the Raiders and Patriots for a second time each.

It would make more sense for the White House to bring back Anthony Scaramucci as director of communications than it would for the Steelers to bring back Antonio Brown.

I retract that.

It would make more sense for the White House to appoint Antonio Brown as director of communications than it would make sense for the Steelers to bring him back to Pittsburgh.

Reporter: “Antonio! Antonio! What’s the latest on the situation with Iran?

Press Secretary Brown: “It’s boomin’! And call me, Ronald.”

The one thing the Steelers have done right in 2019 is commit to getting rid of that nut job. Now Smith is suggesting the Steelers would be the one team, above anyone else, to give Mr. Frozen Feet another chance.

Please.

When Smith says Mr. Big Chest needs to be apologetic and contrite for his actions … so what!?

He apologized a hundred times for various things he did wrong as a Steeler. From skipping meetings, to live streaming in Kansas City, to his sideline tantrums. Brown always apologized to the team on Monday morning, and it never meant a thing by Wednesday afternoon.

Why should it now?

And as far as Smith saying Pittsburgh would give Brown a second chance? Nah. I don’t think so.

Sure, the city is starved for a win. And, yes, the receivers have been lousy without him. But this is a rare time when I honestly believe most folks in Pittsburgh when they say, “I’d rather lose without that guy than win with him.”

At least I know that’s how I feel.

Furthermore, if you think Brown was impossible to manage when Landry Jones couldn’t get him the ball enough, what would he do to Mason Rudolph? He’d eat him alive.

Brown was too much of a bear to deal with when the franchise was good. How awful would he be to keep in line now that they stink?

Here’s what is going to happen to Brown.

He’s going to wait until the NFL decides how to discipline him. Once that decision is made, he will remain out of work until a team figures out if that punishment is too prohibitive to sign him.

Once that determination is made, if that club is a contender who needs to replace an injured star receiver, that club will sign Antonio Brown.

But, sorry Stephen A., that club won’t be the Pittsburgh Steelers.