The end of Antonio Brown’s playing career, and his subsequent activities in retirement, have stained his legacy. However, there was a time when he was the best wide receiver in the league. Brown had an unbelievable run with the Pittsburgh Steelers, recording six-straight seasons with over 100 catches and 1,000 receiving yards. Unfortunately, his Steelers tenure had a messy ending. However, former NFL running back LeSean McCoy wants to set the record straight on what went down and why.

“This is what people don’t know,” McCoy said recently on the Speakeasy podcast. “Because I had Drew Rosenhaus as my agent and he had Drew Rosenhaus as his agent. We’ve always been tight. He didn’t want to leave Pittsburgh. That’s the real truth. The real truth is he loved Pittsburgh. He never wanted to leave Pittsburgh. He felt like they didn’t truly value him.

“They gave [team MVP] to JuJu [Smith-Schuster], which sounds crazy when Antonio Brown is on your team. Then, your Hall-of-Fame-caliber quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who they’ve basically babied for years, even when he declined. AB, say what you want about him, he always was productive, he always was a hard worker. All these things are going downhill for him, and now they ask him to leave? He was mad about that.”

It’s possible that Brown didn’t really want to leave the Steelers. He had a lot of success in Pittsburgh, and it had become his home. Brown looked like he was set to not only go down as the best receiver in Pittsburgh’s history but also one of the best in NFL history.

However, the Steelers didn’t force Brown out. He requested a trade even after meeting with owner Art Rooney II. McCoy is talking like Brown is the victim in this situation. The seven-time Pro Bowler made it clear that he wanted to be on a different team. One could argue that the Steelers made him feel that way, but that doesn’t necessarily seem fair.

Brown has said that the reason he asked for a trade out of Pittsburgh was because he didn’t feel like he could win a Super Bowl there. Therefore, either he wasn’t telling the whole truth, or McCoy has the version of the story that is incomplete.

Yes, Brown has also said that Smith-Schuster being named team MVP in 2018 was part of why he wanted to leave the Steelers. It feels like an overreaction to ask for a trade because of that, though. Smith-Schuster was deserving of the honor, and it was voted on by the Steelers players.

Compare his and Brown’s stats for that season. Brown had 104 catches for 1,297 yards and 15 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Smith-Schuster had 111 catches for 1,426 yards and seven touchdowns. While Brown scored more, Smith-Schuster had more catches and yards.

If Brown didn’t want to leave Pittsburgh, then he shouldn’t have requested a trade. It’s as simple as that. And acting like the Steelers treated him poorly and shoved him out the door is rewriting history. Had he kept his cool, he could’ve gone down as one of the best players in franchise history.

Instead, it’s a story of what could have been.