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Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis says he's disappointed to see the turmoil going on with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After dealing with running back Le'Veon Bell's seasonlong holdout, the Steelers are now deciding what to do with superstar wide receiver Antonio Brown, who skipped a practice and then left the season finale early.
"It's frustrating because we set a standard that we saw from the guys before us," Bettis, who played for the Steelers from 1996 to 2005, told WFAN's "Boomer & Gio" on Tuesday from Super Bowl Radio Row in Atlanta. "And so we said, 'Hey, we have to maintain the standard, and we're stewards of the standard, right? And so we're passing the standard on, and to see that standard be eroded, that's the hurtful part of it."
Bettis said coach Mike Tomlin has steadily lost his grip on the team's discipline after initially giving too much freedom to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
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"That's where it started, and it just permeated through the entire locker room with, at that point, him (Tomlin) giving the players a little bit more freedom," Bettis said. "When he first came in, he was on top of them. He didn't know the players. He didn't know who's going to be his guys. But once he started to draft guys and get his guys in there, then he loosened up, and I thought he loosened up too much.
"They took advantage of it. And his philosophy is, 'I'm going to let these guys be men, I'm going to give them some space, and I'm not going to stay on top of them like some other coaches do in the NFL.' And I think he got burned. He's learned the hard way."
But Bettis thinks there is a good chance Brown returns to the Steelers next season. He believes teams will be leary of giving up too much for the seven-time Pro Bowler, hurting his trade value.
"They should put the parameters in place and say: 'Hey, we'll see you in August. You don't have to talk to us. We don't have to talk to you. Be ready to play. If you're not here, we're going to fine you,'" Bettis said.