Mark Madden: NFL gets more distasteful in its rising popularity

The Toxic Twins are back at it. Marvel at their rare blend of stupidity and narcissism. (Actually, that’s a common combination.)

“I still feel like I can put up big numbers, and I see what (other receivers) are getting paid,” Antonio Brown said. “I just wonder why my value isn’t being upheld as the same.”

Yeah. Me, too. I really wonder why this terrible thing is happening to you. (Brown’s quote takes the gold medal at the lack-of-self-awareness Olympics.)

“NOTHING can stop you…only YOU can stop you.” That got tweeted by Le’Veon Bell.

Hey, who would know better? Bell has stopped himself numerous times.

Football just gets more and more distasteful to follow, except everybody still does.

Aaron Rodgers’ nonstop indulgence of greed and ego chased away his primary target. How long till Rodgers complains he doesn’t have enough weapons?

Nobody cares what Deshaun Watson did or didn’t do concerning his avalanche of sexual misconduct cases in Houston. His reward for embarrassing the NFL was the largest fully guaranteed contract in NFL history, to the tune of $230 million.

Such a groundbreaking deal couldn’t have gone to a worse guy on so many levels. Never mind Watson’s alleged malfeasance. He is not the NFL’s best quarterback and didn’t play at all last year. What are better quarterbacks going to ask for now?

The first year of Watson’s contract has a base salary of just $1 million. That’s to protect him from losing much money in case the NFL suspends him. His base salary for the deal’s second season is $46 million. Watson plunged into raw sewage and came out smelling like a rose.

Then there’s the sudden exit of Bruce Arians as Tampa Bay’s head coach.

Does anyone believe that Arians retired? We’ve heard that story before.

Arians “retired” back in 2011 after serving as Steelers offensive coordinator. But he really was fired.

Arians was NFL Coach of the Year the next season at Indianapolis and coached through 2021. At Tampa Bay, he won the Super Bowl that followed the 2020 season.

This “retirement” stinks just as bad as the one in 2011.

Quarterback Tom Brady forced Arians out at Tampa Bay. Connecting the dots isn’t easy, and the NFL media’s countless Brady stooges won’t try.

But Arians “retiring” makes Brady’s 38-day “retirement” make sense. Brady said if Arians stayed, he’d quit. There was a 38-day standoff. Tampa Bay agreed to ditch Arians. Brady came back. After an appropriate wait, Arians was gone.

If that sounds far-fetched and convoluted, so does Arians deciding to “retire” out of nowhere at the end of March and Brady “retiring” for just over five weeks.

Brady and Arians didn’t openly feud. But the two clashed on occasion, as coaches and quarterbacks are wont to do. But Brady isn’t just any quarterback. The inmates run the asylum throughout sports. But Brady is an inmate with unparalleled accomplishment and stroke.

Arians could be a pain. Which was OK when the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl the season before last. After that, not so much.

Todd Bowles takes over for Arians. He’s a defensive-minded coach who mostly will leave Brady alone. The NFL is doubtless happy to see another African-American get a head coaching job, even more so because being in charge of Brady makes him all the more visible.

Meanwhile, the Steelers need a safety. Tyrann Mathieu is a free agent. The Honey Badger. He’s 29, just 5-foot-9 and beat up after nine seasons of ultra-physical play. But he has a cool nickname, so the Steelers need to get him.

If Mathieu was named Jim Smith and had no catchy moniker, nobody would be saying, “Hey, the Steelers should get Jim Smith!”

Free agency is more than two weeks old, and no one has signed Mathieu. There’s a reason for that.

No one has signed Terrell Edmunds, either. He started the last four seasons at safety for the Steelers. He has been disappointing for a first-round pick. But he’d be great if he’d been selected in the third round.

Bring Edmunds back on the cheap. Joe Haden, too. Hire a PR firm to invent nicknames.