Props to Martavis

I think we have something special in this kid.

Stepped up in a big way last week after being very publicly called out by his QB.

Stepped up in a big way this week with AB out (194 yards from scrimmage is huge!).

He's handled the criticisms and the spotlight with a mature attitude and backed it up with clutch play. He's obviously got amazing athletic ability, but add to that the mental toughness he's shown in the last two weeks and the sky's the limit.

 

I've honestly got some concerns about him. He definitely needs to become a more complete receiver. It doesn't seem like he runs the crisp routes that AB does and it doesn't seem like he always catches the ones he should. I still agree though that he has a very high ceiling. I feel the same about Coates. I was the most impressed with him in the preseason and I can say that he played good under the circumstances. Ben definitely wanted him to run some better routes yesterday though and you could tell that at one point he got really irritated at him. I actually liked seeing that from Ben. That's pretty out of character for him really.

 

With a full season in 2016 he's gonna be fine, reminds me of a young Randy Moss or Plaxico Burress. We're lucky to have him and I know Ben is excited with his tall target finally!!

 

He's still young. Lots of potential. Just needs to stay clean and focused.

 

Agree whole heartedly.. Exactly what I see in him is what I saw in Plaxico. The one difference is MB does not mind be hit.. He does not shy away like Plaxico did. He is one tough SOB

 

MB grew up a lot in yesterday's game. Another guy who blew up IMO is Coats. This receiving corp is just NASTY going into next year. Brown, Bryant, Coats/Wheaton?

 

In the beginning of the season, I would've agreed with you. I think I shared this before but when asked who the most athletic guy in the locker room was, everyone said Martavis. He's athletic, tall, & fast. It there's just something missing. I don't know if it's that he's not focused, he doesn't have the instincts he should, he's a slow learner, or he just doesn't care. Ben even had to call him out. He really needed to play better than he did yesterday & I thought he would. When he was running the ball, there was a few times that if he would've just gone up the field instead of across the field, he would've gotten more yards. He's not aggressive enough at all & he drops the ball. I'm not saying get rid of him, I'm hoping that he can get better. I'm just not as confident in him as I was.

 

He stepped up for sure.

 

I just hope we don't read this headline in the offseason:
"Bryant suspended for 10 games for additional violation of the league's substance abuse policy"

 

Very nice that he is also signed the next two seasons as well. Bad part him and AB will be in the final years of their contracts at the same time.

 

My only real concern are his hands. He's still a body catcher and drops a few too many passes he could/should get. I'm not too worried about his instincts with the ball in his hands tho. He's taken plenty of screens and reverses this year for big yardage. I'm glad we have him for two more years. Hopefully we can find a way to keep him and AB together. The kid can play.

 

Yeah, body catching isn't good for him. Was watching some gifs and he's jumping to catch balls that he shouldn't need to jump for. If he just gets his hands up to catch it, he's off to the races...

Even the PI non-call on Talib. If he just stops and tries to get his hands up and they see he's being held, he gets the call. Problem is he decided to jump and it seems the official made a judgement that he "jumped" into the defender.

 

For a guy his size and speed he just does not seem aggressive enough at going after the ball. Or even strong enough. He needs to spend some time down in Orlando with Ike Taylor and Antonio Brown and William Gay because he goes down way to easy and like I mentioned doesn't go after the ball like he should.

Like Deion Sanders said, "I believe I had just as much right to the ball as the wide receivers". That attitude made him great.

 

I'd like to see the organization handcuff Bryant and Brown together in the offseason. Imagine Bryant's improvement if he worked on his craft like AB does ...

 

He needs to train with his clone Randy Moss and learn how randy did it for all those years he played, but Bryant did miss 5 games this season that would have contributed to him getting more experience and more touchdowns, but he is a special receiver with nothing but a bright future ahead for him to prove he can be one of the best ever.....

 

The nice thing about Bryant is the issues he has are purely mental. Physically he's a top 10 WR. He needs to improve his hands, route running, and body position/timing when going up for balls.

If he wants to be great he'll need to put in the work and training during the off season. I'm sure his teammates (Ben and Brown) will be all over him about getting better. I wonder if he suffers from some mental issues and is he getting the proper treatment? His lack of focus and history show he's got something wrong up stairs. With a little maturity I think he could over come what ever issues he's having.

 

I

That's my big concern with Bryant, he can work on catching with his hands but the other.

 

The man has talent no doubt, but can he stay off the dope? He/Steelers are one pee test
away from 1 year suspension..

 

That's definitely something that's going to be a concern with him till he gets it behind him for a couple years.
I'm hopefull that he's learned his lesson and by all accounts it appears he has.