Antonio Brown doesn’t like JuJu Smith-Schuster.

No, really, he doesn’t like his former teammate at all — as well as Ben Roethlisberger and even Hines Ward — and the most decorated wide receiver in Steelers history made that crystal clear during an impromptu 22-minute interview on 93.7 FM’s The Fan Morning Show on Thursday.

All of it, in Browns’ eyes, was the disrespect the then 22-year-old Smith-Schuster showed with a social media post after Brown forced his way out of Pittsburgh by bashing the team, the owner and the quarterback over a two-month span. Smith-Schuster posted a photo of him catching a touchdown pass against the Raiders — the organization that just acquired Brown in a trade.

I’m Ready… pic.twitter.com/K9EZVna0VV

— JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu) March 10, 2019

Brown didn’t appreciate the post.

“I never said anything about JuJu,” Brown said. “When you are Antonio Brown and you become this big guy in this big spot, when somebody comes at me negatively, I can’t even come back at them. JuJu Smith-Schuster was a young guy who DM’d me in college saying how much he looked up to me and how he wanted to work with me then you get a chance to work with me and you have your best season ever and I am about to leave and you post a picture of you scoring a touchdown on the team I am going to saying you are ready. That’s a form of disrespect.”

Brown and Smith-Schuster spent two years together with the Steelers and formed a dynamic one-two punch. That all fell apart after Smith-Schuster was voted by his teammates as Steelers MVP in 2018 season after a season in which he caught 111 passes for 1,426 yards but benefitted from Brown lining up opposite of him. The honor came right after Brown had 14 catches for 185 yards and two scores, which likely added to Brown’s ire.

Brown was upset over the slight and it spilled over into the final week of the season, a must-win game against the Bengals. Brown didn’t appreciated Rothlisberger singling him out during practice and threw the ball in his direction and walked out. Mike Tomlin benched him for the game after he went AWOL for the next two days, and Brown forced his way out of Pittsburgh with a series of negative social media posts and interviews.

While most of the frustration was centered around Roethlisberger for Brown, the battle with Smith-Schuster was just as damaging. Once good friends, the two quickly turned enemies. During the interview, an agitated Brown mentioned that he was pulled over for driving 100 mph while nothing happened to Smith-Schuster when he posted a video of him apparently doing the same.

“You are talking about a young guy coming into the league looking up to Antonio Brown and wanting to be the next Antonio Brown and they start to see what Antonio Brown is like and they want to be Antonio Brown,” Brown said. “Being me comes with some kind of envy. People want to be the guy who makes the big plays and guys who get the stats, so when you see a guy like JuJu who you took under your wing and showed so much respect … I gave JuJu Smith-Schuster all the positive cheat codes and all the stuff to be successful and to watch a guy call me out when I am moving forward with positive and he is moving forward with positive … people have to show more respect and be more considerate with others.”

Last week during the Super Bowl, it seemed like their relationship took a step in the right direction. Smith-Schuster said he was “concerned” about Brown during a Radio Row interview with ProFootballTalk and Brown responded with a social media post not much later with a picture of the two hugging with the comment, “it’s about inspiring the culture. It’s all love.”

That love didn’t come through during Thursday’s interview as Brown snickered at Smith-Schuster’s first season as the team’s No. 1, which resulted in 552 yards receiving and four missed games with a knee injury.

“There’s no beef. I have nothing against JuJu Smith-Schuster,” Brown said. “Why would I? I am who he wants to be. I’m in a position when he’s describing to be. If you want to call out AB, you better set your standards high like AB because if there not, somebody has to tell him because that’s the problem with the country nowadays. They have nobody to tell them the truth. JuJu Smith-Schuster is running around with 500 yards and everyone thinks he’s the world. The Steelers didn’t make the playoffs. That is a problem.”

Since leaving the Steelers, Brown hasn’t done any in-depth interviews about what led to his departure. And how it came about on Thursday was just about as strange as his departure from the team. It first came as a goof by the morning show. They tweeted Brown asking him to come on the show and later cold texted Brown asking him to come on the show. Surprisingly, Brown agreed.

Of course, one of the first questions was about his relationship with Roethlisberger, which was strained for years, but they always found a way to get through it. Brown said he had enough with Roethlisberger and couldn’t play with him anymore. Brown said the biggest disconnect between the two was that Roethlisberger didn’t respect him.

“Of course I am pissed off at a guy like Ben Roethlisberger for nine years and being able to do what nobody in history has been able to do and that guy doesn’t even treat me with respect,” said Brown not long after apologizing to Roethlisberger, Mike Tomlin and Art Rooney. “Over the course of time, a lot built up.”

Roethlisberger occasionally called out Brown publicly, and that didn’t sit well with the receiver. Brown’s last straw was when Roethlisberger criticized him for not running a route flatter late in a mid-season game against Denver that resulted in an interception in the end zone by a nose tackle.

“Ben is nonchalant to what people think about him,” Brown said. “People talk behind his back but not really share to his face, so a lot of people who deal with Ben is not dealing with him with the reality of what it is. They are really nervous to tell him what he really is based on his position. A guy like me, we had a real heart-to-heart and hashed it out, but a lot of stuff built up and it was too late.

“Do I hate Ben? No. Do I love Ben? Yes. Ben is a great guy, a great person, a great quarterback and all the disappointments frustration we had could’ve been hashed out, but when egos and emotions get involved, a lot of things go different ways. He got JuJu Smith-Schuster. I guess, you know, that worked better for him.”

Also during the interview:

• Brown took a shot at former teammate Hines Ward. The two played together in 2010 and 2011.

“Hines Ward didn’t show me the respect that I needed or gave me the positivity or support I needed. I have never been to his house, I never studied plays with him, I never went how to win or get open or how to do this right or that right.”

• Brown said that one of the reasons he wanted to leave the Steelers because players were interested in their individual stats more than winning a Super Bowl.

“At the time, what was important to me was winning the Super Bowl and we had a lot of things that were important to individuals, but it wasn’t important to do the big thing to win the Super Bowl,” Brown said. “Guys weren’t really ready to push what was important. To me, it was about getting that next carrot and that’s winning.”

• Brown didn’t understand why they put him in an anti-suicide smock after he was arrested last month.

“I am pretty good. Those guys put me in a crazy jacket. I don’t know why they did that.”

• Brown said that he really doesn’t have a lot of anger.

“I just think I am really bored. Football kept a lot of my focus and not having that allowed me to be bored and be able to react to things I wouldn’t normally react to.”

• Brown said he isn’t sure if he wants to play football again.

“I’m just taking it day-by-day,” Brown said.

(Photo: Charles LeClaire / USA Today)